


Thinking for Myself

by Joeclone



Category: Kirby - All Media Types, Sonic the Hedgehog - All Media Types, Super Mario & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-23
Updated: 2019-10-23
Packaged: 2020-12-29 00:16:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 26,211
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21145607
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Joeclone/pseuds/Joeclone
Summary: A young man has fallen into an unnaturally deep sleep, and he ventures into his imagination to find a way out! But what dangers will he find?





	1. Open the Mind

I was in the middle of a road, a dusty road like I was in a western, but it wasn't a western. It looked more like a semi-medieval village, and something about it seemed... familiar. As if I've seen it somewhere before, like something out of... Camelot, maybe?

"Where am I?" I asked myself.

"Are you the boy I'm looking for?" a young man's voice questioned. I turned fast to face the voice, he was right behind me. He looked about my age, almost the same height, thick blonde hair, pointy ears, and blue eyes... wait... pointy ears!?

He was dressed in a green hat that looked like one of the seven dwarfs, except floppier. He also wore tights, a sword at his side with a blue hilt, a bow and quiver of arrows, a shield that matched the sword, and the green tunic gave away his identity.

"Link?" I asked him.

"Yes, that is my name. Are you the one I am looking for?"

"Um…that depends," I said, immediately curious. But this wasn't time to play twenty questions. "What is this?"

"'This' as in..." he gave me a look like he wanted more information.

"All of this!" I spread my arms out, gesturing to the entirety of our surroundings.

"Oh, well you are in a region of your imagination, the one of Hyrule, and all related to the Legend of Zelda universe that you know about, including myself. To be more specific, we're just outside Kakariko Village. I've been expecting someone who would know that title, because there's a problem." He surprised me by saying the name of his own game. The Hero of Hyrule, with this kind of out of his league, past the 4th wall knowledge? It seemed unnatural. Not to mention, Link had a speaking voice. That was more than enough to make me uncomfortable, regardless of how good it sounded for him.

"…I guess that's me. So, how did I get here?" I asked him, moving to more important matters. The thing about his voice and that "problem" he mentioned would come later.

"You know how you've been feeling, right?" Link said. I nodded, my eyebrows knit together in a contemplative stare. He put his left hand behind his head and messed with the hair that was leaking out of his cap. "Well, I don't know how else to tell you this, but you're in a coma.

"I-I'm in a...WHAT? HOW!? And how would you know?" I asked, shocked beyond all sanity. This has to be a dream, I'm dreaming and when I wake up I'll be on the top bunk of mine and my brother's beds... I thought to myself.

Link pointed to something and said, "…I have a feeling that's how." What he was pointing at was some kind of weird looking creature on three tendril-like legs. It had spikes off the sides of its mouth, eyes black with purple spots, a head shaped like a hammerhead shark, hands with no fingers, and more muscular than Mr. T, Lou Ferrigno, and John Cena combined. Did I mention it was like 8 feet 10 inches tall?

"What is that thing?" I asked Link, my eyes wide with surprise and knees beginning to shake, until they were stable enough to keep me standing.

"I don't know exactly, but they've been attacking some of the villagers," he replied.

"Why don't you do something about it?" I asked. I mean this made no sense, why let the monster get the villagers? Link's answer was admittedly less than satisfying.

"You didn't know, so I couldn't do anything but leave them to the White Blood Cells," he answered. "They haven't been very effective." I looked around the village, and there were more of these alien things walking around looking for prey. I also didn't see any "white blood cells."

"They aren't here,"

"The Blood Cells? They were here, but they are gone now, either in hiding, or they were destroyed," Link sounded a bit despaired when he said that.

"Why couldn't you fight them? Aren't you the Hero that's supposed to protect all these villagers?" I asked.

"I am a figment of your imagination. This entire place is. Believe me, I would be fighting if I could, but in order for me to begin, you had to come."

I raised my eyebrow at him, "How does that work? Why wait for me?"

"Think of me as an avatar. Now normally, when you dream, you become whatever avatar you want to suit your dream. And the avatar becomes your 'weapon' if you will. What's a weapon without someone to wield it?"

I said in return, "Just a hunk of metal on the wall."

"Exactly. But something happened that made your consciousness manifest itself here with me. I don't know what, but I have a feeling these creatures may have an answer."

I understood enough. "Well then, what are we waiting for?"

"I thought you'd never ask," said Link.

I figured that since I was in my own imagination (which is mostly video games, TV shows, movies, and fantasy/sci-fi books), I figured I could do whatever I please. Including beating down some germ-like monsters with my bare hands. Okay, I admit I didn't like being unarmed. I mean, I did Tae Kwon Do and Karate. I got a black belt when I was 10, but after that, I didn't do it for 6 or 7 years. My parents told me I should do it again. It turned out I went back to white belt, but that was months ago. So I had forgotten most of my moves from back in the day, and here I was, trying to fight this snarling creature, with little success, and Link taking down so many one by one.

"Darn! I want some weapons!" I barked to myself.

Link shouted, "Here!" and tossed me his sword. The royal blue handle and gleaming steel blade spun in the air as it came towards me. I jumped up and caught it by the handle in a backhanded grip.

"All right! But what about you, Link?" I looked over to wear I heard some commotion. Link switched to using a bow and arrows atop a building's roof.

"I'll be okay! Just do what you can with the Master Sword, I'll need it back after, though," he said as he fired an arrow that had a bomb at the tip.

I thought to myself, Okay, I can't hang on to this sword forever, or can I...? I have an idea! I willed the sword to copy itself, and it worked.

"What in the...?!" Link said, "I didn't know the Master Sword could do that!"

"That was me, Link." I told him as I tossed back his original sword. I willed my new sword to change form, and a gold and red-bladed two-handed broadsword was suddenly in my hands. Armed and dangerous to germs now, I jumped and stabbed the last creature, which just disappeared into the ground. I was a pretty drained though, like heaving and sputtering kind of drained. It took a lot of brainpower to make that sword so fast.

"Not very smart, are they?" I said, huffing after I had a moment to regain my strength, "It didn't run when it noticed the others were gone."

"Either that, or it could be smarter than we think." Link replied. I let that thought sink in.

"If that's so, then there's something we don't know about these things."

Link's eyes widened, "I think I know just the person to talk to, she's a healer, and a fortune teller."

"Perfect." I exclaimed. We started walking down the road, hardly any people were on it now.

"I'm Joseph, by the way. I didn't get to introduce myself before," I said.

"Good to meet you," he said, then shook my hand. Link turned towards a house and knocked on the door.

"Who is it?" asked an old woman's voice.

"Alexis, I've brought someone," Link said through the door.

The door was opened by an old woman with raggedy clothing, worn shoes, messy uncombed hair and a veil on her head. She pretty much looked like a real fortune teller.

"Greetings Link, my friend. And who is this?" she turned to see me. Her eyes were big and deep blue. I could have been smitten if she was younger, perhaps she was very beautiful a long time ago.

"This is our creator, Joseph." Link told her.

Creator? Oh, right, everyone's a figment of my imagination, I guess while I'm stuck here I'll have to get used to that.

"Ah, yes it is so nice to meet you! My name is Alexis. You seek my help in freeing you from this infection, yes?" Alexis asked.

"Um... infection?" I answered.

"I am afraid I can only guide you, not obliterate the virus directly, if that is what you had in mind," she said.

"Well, that sucks. Anything you can tell us about my coma? Or how to wake me up?" I asked her.

"The only way for you to 'wake up' is obvious, defeating the viruses!" she snapped. "Of course, you knew that right away, didn't you?" It did seem pretty obvious that was only way to wake up and see my family again...

"Hold it! My family! Are they worried at all about me?" I asked.

"Yes, they are. My goodness, it took you this long to realize that? That's quite sad. I hope your relationship with your family is much better than what you're showing me." Alexis replied, with a bit of a joking tone. "I can hear them through my crystal ball," she added, "Your father and brother Matthew are trying to get you out of bed, your mother, and sister Theresa are watching close by, and Michael, Angela and Daniel are watching TV at your Uncle's house, unaware of your condition. But enough of that, let me replenish your energy, so you will be able to fight again." So that's what Alexis did. She put her bony hands on my head and spoke in some weird language, Hylian maybe? The sensation was quite calming. Like I felt my surroundings bring the energy to me. You know that tingly feeling down your back you get when you just felt a big rush of heat? Well with that I felt like I could make spikes pop out of my back like a porcupine.

"Yikes!" cried Link. I looked at him, and he was looking behind me. I looked, and apparently there really were spikes coming out my back!

"Whoa. How'd I do that?" I wondered.

"You thought about yourself with a spiky back, and your excess imagination energy released itself accordingly," Alexis said.

"That's pretty scary," I replied.

"On top of duplicating the Master Sword, and transforming the copy..." Link said, dazed, "...I would agree."

"Transformation…hmm…" Alexis said, "I believe I have something that would use that ability to your advantage."

"What?" I asked.

"This," she said as she took a box off a shelf. She brought the box over to me, and opened it. Inside was a large wristwatch. I took a closer look, this was no ordinary watch, there were no numbers, or hands. Then a familiarity struck me, I invented this watch in my thoughts. "I kept it safe in this box, so as to keep it out of the wrong hands," said Alexis.

"I remember this! I designed it off of Ben 10's Omnitrix, a Power Ranger's morpher, and Percy Jackson's watch shield," I said, amazed.

"A wristband that transforms its wearer!" Link said in surprise.

"Yes, and perhaps you will be able to make it work?" Alexis asked me with a noticeable smirk of elation on her face.

My heart jumped at my name. "Me? Use it? You mean like, wear it?" I asked.

"Come now, put it on!" said Alexis. I slowly took my transform-yourself-into-anything watch out of its box. I was so freaked I almost dropped it.

"Careful!" Link and Alexis said together. I put the watch on. I noticed a touchscreen. That was convenient. I turned it on. There was nothing in it.

"How come there's nothing in here?" I asked.

"Ah well, you haven't downloaded any abilities yet. Link, put your hand on the screen," Alexis said. As he did that, the watch beeped, and the screen flashed. "New addition has been added to playlist," it said. Link took his hand off, and I saw a picture of Link next to his Triforce insignia.

"Does this mean I can change into Link?" I asked.

"I think so," said Alexis.

"Try it!" Link insisted.

I touched the picture, and the watch made me glow. Next thing I knew, I looked exactly like Link!

"Well, what do you think?" I asked them, it appeared my voice changed slightly as well.

"The spitting image!" Alexis praised, "Take a look." She directed me to the mirror, which was pretty dusty for some odd reason, and as I looked at Link's face, and knew it was me, I realized I shouldn't look exactly like Link.

"Anything I can do to change the way I look?"

"Oh, of course, you can change clothing colors, hairstyles..."

"How about if I just wear the outfit?" I said.

"I suppose... let me see..." She took my wrist and tweaked the watch a little. Okay, more than a little. When she finished, I saw more options on the screen.

"How did you do that so fast?" I questioned.

"Just call it imagination magic! I drew the power from your mind, which is of course all around us, like The Force from Star Wars, in a way." I shook my head in dismissal. She knew about Star Wars? There was a lot I needed to process and I didn't have the time.

I changed myself back to normal, except I still had Link's clothes, which I recolored red, and I equipped the sword I made before. "I also put a communications device in your watch, just in case you need to contact me," Alexis said, "I'm always here in my house, and I can give you more tools as you would need them."

"Y'know, I bet I will need your help Alexis, thank you so much!" I smiled at her, and she smiled back. Despite how old she looked, her teeth were surprisingly perfect. Like I said before, I could have been smitten. "So where did the virus come from?" I asked her.

"Their mother," Alexis answered. "The Virus Mother created them, and sent them to destroy you, Joseph."

"Alright, where is she?" said Link.

She paused, then answered, "I don't know for sure, but she's in your mind somewhere hidden."

"Now how are we supposed to find out?" I asked.

Link answered, "It's a longshot, but why don't we ask one of their own?"

"Doesn't sound too bad, we find a virus, defeat it, and make it talk. Probably easier said than done," I said.

"And if we find the mother, we could find Princess Zelda," said Link.

"Zelda? What do you mean?" I said, confused.

"They captured her. You weren't here, so I couldn't stop them," he replied.

"Right. So we make one tell us where they're keeping Zelda too... no, first, and then where the Virus Mother is," I told him.

"Good! You have a plan! Now go. There are portals to other realms of Joseph's imagination that the viruses are trying to control," said Alexis. "You must stop them!"

"But what if I can't for some reason?" I asked.

"I don't know, but I'm sure you'll figure it out," said Alexis. Link and I nodded as we headed for the door, I turned back and said to Alexis,

"I'll call if I need you," I tapped the watch, "I know which button." She smiled as I left.

"Which way do we go?" I asked Link as he closed the door.

"I think we should try the edge of the village, a portal could be there," he said back.

"Let's go!" I said.

"Come on! This way," Link replied. Sure enough, we found a swirling vortex of white energy, a portal obviously.

"Here it is. Do we walk through or what?" I asked him.

"I don't know, could it be safe?" he asked.

"It seems to be. I say 'come on!'" I echoed.

Link didn't move. "It's what's on the other side I'm worried about." That tug at my stomach.

"Uhh... well, my life and by extension yours is at stake here, so let's get going," I said. I stepped forward, I felt the portal's power radiating at me. And it just flat out sucked me in.

I heard Link scream, "I'm coming Jo..." like as if we were underwater, minus the bubbles messing up the sound waves. I was going through a tube of energy, to some other one of my own 'realms'. Then I reached the end, and I was someplace I would never have expected.

END OF CHAPTER


	2. Getting The Hang Of This

I got up off the ground feeling cold, hard concrete.

Well, that's a relief. I'm in a present day realm. I thought to myself.

I was lying face down. As I got up, I noticed I was on a sidewalk, which helped narrow down the possibilities of where I was- a city or some kind of town, maybe suburbs? Then I looked further up. My eyes went wide. It was a huge city, emphasis on huge. Now, I've never been to New York City, but judging by how I saw Times Square in movies like Captain America: the First Avenger, and The Smurfs, the buildings in this city were at least a half-length higher, a lot of them with irregular-shaped structures, and a bit more colorful, lighted, painted, and more details which I won't be able to get into.

"What in the…" said Link, who had just appeared out of the realm portal of whatever (how about 'disorientation'. That seems to fit).

"So Link, how do you like it?" I exclaimed spreading my arms out.

"What kind of place is this?" he asked.

"It's an extremely big village, a city to those who dwell in it," I explained, trying to put it in words he would understand. Link looked around in awe.

"How can any living creature create something like this? It must've taken many generations of workers!" Link said.

My answer was said with pride and excitement, "Well with the right materials, enough money, and a whole heap of work and genius, it would take just a few years or less to complete one of these buildings."

Link's eyes widened. "Oh, and by the way, I think humans made this."

"Incredible," Link replied, "So, where are we?"

Truthfully I didn't know exactly where we were, it definitely wasn't New York, no matter how similar it seemed to be.

"I don't know, let's ask someone." We started to walk into this place, the people looked like normal humans, but there were also different creatures walking around. These weren't scary nightmare-inducing creatures like the ones attacking my "Hyrule", but... I don't know if 'cute' would describe these new creatures completely. They had big eyes, big hands, and big shoes. Not to mention the individual characteristics, each one was either in different clothes, or they were different species altogether. To me they sort of looked familiar, but just as I was trying to figure it out, the viruses began an assault!

The viruses chased a fat, purple-striped creature that looked like a...cat? Or lynx? Wolverine? Nah... not fierce-looking enough for a wolverine. Then suddenly I recognized this particular feline.

"Big," I said to myself.

"Yes I know, that cat about as big as the virus attacking him." Link said.

I looked at him incredulously and said, "No! Not the size, that's Big the Cat! That means this world is Mobius!" I said. Link looked confused, then shook his head and raised his sword towards the virus.

"Help me!" Big shouted. I searched for my sword, and I noticed I was back in my original outfit. Red t-shirt with blue denim jeans, sneakers and a black gym jacket.

Whoa, weird. I thought. I turned my attention back to the task at hand. As I pulled my sword out, a blue blur whooshed at the viruses nearby, and bounced on each one, destroying it. Big was saved.

"What was that?" Link stumbled over his words.

"Only one thing can run that fast...Sonic the Hedgehog," I answered.

"What is that?" Link asked.

"Sonic the Hedgehog is the protector of Mobius, the world we entered," I said.

"A hedgehog that is blue?" Link asked. "That is strange. Wait, what about the others? The viruses?" He was right. There were more viruses all around the city.

I got my sword up, and said, "Here we go!" I ran towards a virus, it tried to hit me, but I dodged and then slashed. POOF! Into the ground it sank. As I ran to a few more, I saw Link shooting some with his arrows. And POOF in the ground they went. Then I felt a big gust of wind, and in the next moment I beheld Sonic in all his way past coolness. He spin-dashed on viruses like it was nothing to him. I refocused myself to the viruses I was charging at. One knocked me down. I got back up and slashed in an arc over my left shoulder, then sweeped at the virus's waist, cutting it in half. POOF! POOF! POOF! We all kept up the counterattack until none of the enemy remained. Sonic ran up to me with a smirk on his easy-going mug.

"Pretty slick moves ya got there, man," he said, giving me his signature thumb-up.

"Thanks, Sonic," I said. I had an idea. "Hey...could you put your hand on my watch for me? I know we just met but I want to try something."

Sonic looked surprised, then he said, "Look guy, you don't just ask someone to do somethin' like that. 'Personal space' mean anything to you?" He put his hands up in front of him.

"Oh no! That's not why I... I mean I was just..." needless to say, I was caught off-guard there.

"I'd do it," called Link from his post. "Let me tell you, you won't be sorry!"

"Um...well...okay, let's see," Sonic said as he touched the watch. It beeped,

"New addition has been added to playlist," it said.

"Whoa! What happened?" asked Sonic. I saw a new picture of Sonic with the emblem of his head. I touched the picture, and I started glowing. After which, I looked exactly like Sonic, which to me was pretty sweet!

"Wow...that was unexpected," Sonic said.

"It gets better," I said. I looked at the options on the watch, I messed with the buttons until I was satisfied with my creation. Then, my 'Sonic body' changed to steel.

"What do I look like?" I asked.

"A knight in shining Hedgehog-armor," said Link.

"I think it looks cool, though it might be a bit clunky," Sonic critiqued, "but can it work?"

"Let's find out," I said. I sped over to some of the last viruses, I jumped, spin-dashed, and pounded on them.

"Oh yeah! I think it runs like a dream! How do you guys think I did?"

They both looked at me in amazement, then Sonic said, "Okay. I'm definitely not sorry."

The next few hours had the three of us exchanging introductions, explaining what we knew about the infection, and going around the city (which Sonic said was called "Westopolis") looking for viruses, and destroying them if we saw some. Then we came to a corner, it was dark, except for one small light coming from who-knows-what. Sonic ran towards it to see what it was.

"Hey guys! I found something," he called. We followed to where Sonic was, and found him holding a glowing yellow gem.

"Ha-hah! You found the yellow Chaos Emerald, Sonic!" I said with excitement.

"So, this is one of the seven Chaos Emeralds you were telling me about earlier, Sonic?" asked Link.

"Yep, and each one is a different color," I told him. I had let Sonic explain the Chaos Emeralds to Link during our conversation.

"So you guys think it'll come in handy?" asked Sonic.

"I don't know, but it'll be a good thing to have, if we need an extra bit of hope," I answered.

"That's good enough for me, I've got another one right here," Sonic said as he pulled up a white emerald.

"All right, but I still don't know how much power is in one," Link exclaimed.

"Maybe someday you'll get to see it," Sonic said.

I turned myself back to normal after that. As we were walking, Link reminded us of the plan we made with Alexis. "We need to have a strategy," said Link, "if these viruses have been attacking both Hyrule and this Mobius, we need to find out why. We need a prisoner."

"We thought about that before...but never actually got around to it," I said.

"Why not?" Sonic asked us. Link and I exchanged looks, I shrugged.

"Let's go to FHQ, so as to get the professionals of capture," said Sonic.

"FHQ...what?" asked Link.

"Freedom Fighters Headquarters," Sonic told him.

Strangely we got there unchallenged, either the viruses were gone, or in hiding, just waiting to strike. We were welcomed to Freedom HQ by a walrus guy.

"Hey, Sonic! Where've ya been? You were supposed to help Tails with the Tornado an hour ago, and... you brought visitors. Dang! Why don't you ever contact us when you have company? We could've cleaned the place up and..."

"Whoa there Rotor, don't get excited, these guys came looking for help, they've got problems worse than the biggest armies Dr. Eggman could ever come up with!" Sonic said as we walked through the door. "Hey guys! I got brought some new friends," he called.

The first to come in the room was some type of squirrel-girl, I recognized her as Sally Acorn, the princess of Mobius and leader of the Freedom Fighters. "About time you got back, Sonic. Tails wanted to see you. He wants the Chaos Emerald to test a new invention of his," she said.

"Later Sally. Oh, by the way, I found another one," Sonic answered.

Sally sighed, "Same Sonic as always. Now who are these 'friends' you brought?"

Tails came in next. "Sonic, I need the emerald for... who are they?" he asked.

"Let's wait until everybody gets in here, then smaller matters next," said Sonic.

Just then a coyote and a rabbit with metal legs came in holding hands. They were followed by a pink hedgehog in a red dress, and a very young rabbit child with her little floating creature friend (Sonic mentioned that was called a Chao).

"What ees zees all about Sonic? I was practicing my fencing," the coyote said in a french accent. He was dressed in a white double cross sash, red boots and a sword on his back. He noticed us and said, "Ah, bonjour, my name is Antoine D'Coolette, Sonic has brought you here for a reason, non?" he said. I was surprised. The last I saw of Antoine (at least in comic book form) was with bandages over his head, and in a hospital bed. Maybe this realm was in a time after all that happened, it would explain everyone else's new looks.

"Ah hope he did, or else y'all would look more excited than that. Oh, Bunnie is ma name by tha way," said the rabbit in the most southern country accent one could have. The last I saw of Bunnie was she was walking out of Antoine's hospital room with a bloodthirsty look on her face, and she wasn't a cyborg. Did I mention Antoine and Bunnie were a married couple?

"Sonic!" squealed the pink Hedgehog as she ran up to him, and gave him an atomic hug of doom. And of course, Sonic didn't see it coming. He was struggling to get out of her arms.

"Amy! Need...air!" he gasped.

"I missed you sooo much, Sonic! What happened? Who are your friends?" asked Amy.

Sonic finally broke free, and said to us, "We have a lot of explaining to do."

With everyone seated, I got to my story. My name, how I met Link, and Alexis, my watch, how I met Sonic, and stopped when we got to the chaos emerald.

"Are these viruses the reason you were late Sonic?" Tails asked.

"That's right buddy, and we had to slow down for Link coming back here, he doesn't have super speed abilities," Sonic answered. "The guy absolutely refused to let me carry him!"

Link shot back, "Hey I was looking out for you! I don't know how your body works but carrying me would probably have broken your back!"

"No worries, man. It would've been fine." Sonic smirked. Link just looked away.

"Why did a fortune teller give you this watch, Joseph?" asked Sally.

I answered, "It's a special watch that...well let me show you." I touched the picture of Sonic, and FLASH! Everyone looked at me amazed. Especially Tails.

"How did it do that? They look completely identical!" he exclaimed. I looked at my watch, and I decided to do another feature. I changed my color to red, changed the spikes around to be more my style, the clothes to my original black unzipped gym jacket, added the jeans, and finally, I turned the gloves from white to black with a white rectangle on the back of each hand.

"Awesome, right? But seriously, the Virus Mother is killing all of us through me. We have a strategy, which is that we should capture a virus and make it talk...if it can. And find out why their mother is doing this," I said.

"How did you change into Sonic?" asked the little rabbit named Cream. "Can you change into us too?"

"Well, uh...Sonic just touched my watch's screen," I told her.

Tails came up to me and said, "You mean like this?" He touched my watch. It beeped and flashed and said, "New addition has been added to playlist." Everybody stared, expectantly.

"Does this mean you can transform into me now?" asked Tails.

"Hold on, let me check, I've never done it while transformed already." I said. I saw Tails's picture, I touched it, and something new came up. 'Which part would you like?' it read. I saw a Tails model with highlights on some of his body parts. I touched his tails, and my red Sonic transformation grew two new fox tails!

"Whoa! Now I'm surprised!" I said. I transformed myself back to the hedgehog I was before. "I'll keep that one in mind. Thanks Tails. Anyone else want to try?"

"Ooh, ooh! I'll go get my hammer!" Amy said enthusiastically.

"Tails, does it...ah...hurt at all?" asked Antoine.

END OF CHAPTER


	3. Oh, My Ribs!

After everyone touched my watch, we made the plan to capture a virus. Me, Link, Sonic, and Antoine were the party chosen to go. Sally's decision, not mine. We started going out the door, when my watch toned. This wasn't the 'new addition' beep, it was a new tone.

"This never happened before, let me see..." I said. My watch had a picture of a dot sending circular waves, and two buttons saying, 'answer', and 'ignore'. Must be like a phone call. I pushed 'answer', and a line on the screen showed.

"Joseph? Are you there?" It was Alexis's voice all right, making the line go up and down like a sound wave.

"I'm here Alexis, what's up?" I asked.

"It's news. News about your family. They've discovered the viruses in your brain," she said.

"What are they doing? Is the news good, or bad?" I asked her.

"You're in the hospital, emergency room, with your brother Matthew, in another bed,"

"What happened to him? The viruses didn't get to him too, did they?" I pleaded.

"No-" she said, relieving me, "but...this is where you have to be the judge on whether it's good or bad. The doctors are doing an unprecedented experiment on you both. I believe they have somehow connected him to you," she answered.

"Why?" I asked, quite bewildered that the doctors would allow something that illogical to happen.

"It was his choice, Joseph. The doctor mentioned a device to connect you to another, and said he never saw anything like this type of infection. Your brother volunteered, quite forcefully I believe. I think this means he will be joining you in your imagination."

"How? W-Why? Didn't Mom and Dad try to stop him?" I asked.

"Yes they did try, but Matthew knew what he wanted, and he knew the consequences," she said. "So-" she continued, "good, or bad?"

A bit calmer, I replied, "Ah... I'm not sure. I mean first of all, that 'experiment' seems like it has no basis in scientific fact, so that's strike one. Strike two, Matthew's being way more reckless than he usually is if this is what he's doing. Strike three, I doubt Mom and Dad would allow that kind of danger to be put on another one of their kids."

There was silence on the line for a couple of seconds. That was plenty of time to ponder what crazy stunt this was supposed to be in order to help me wake up. What are those doctors thinking? Unless...

Then she sighed. "Okay, you got me. I felt like telling it to you the easy way would help make the explanation less complicated," she said.

"The easy way was outright lying?" I asked.

"It wasn't really a lie! Your parents do have you in the hospital, and your brother will be with you soon!"

"How is that possible?"

She paused, then she spoke in a careful tone, "Your brother is coming as a figment of your imagination."

No wonder she wanted to tell me easy. I fell back into the doorframe and put my palms over my eyes. Because what she said made no sense at all. How can he 'become' a figment of imagination just with the flip of a switch?

"Joseph, it's important for you to understand that Matthew is not going to truly be here, but he'll come nonetheless, if that makes sense." Alexis explained.

"It doesn't. But I'm just going to have to deal with it when the time comes I suppose. Goodbye, Alexis," I said, then I hung up. I didn't have the time to worry about this. We had a mission already. And that call was making us lose time, or what I perceived to be time.

I turned to the others, who were looking at me and one another with worried expressions. Antoine started, "Is your frère petite?" he asked.

I told her his age and my own.

"Would he make a good ally?" asked Link.

"Maybe, if I explain everything about our situation to him," I said. "I just don't understand how he could be here!"

"But alas! We must focus on ze task at hand," said Antoine.

"Right, let's get us a virus first, and then find Joseph's brother later," said Sonic.

"Okay, which way?" I asked.

"Hmm," Sonic said. Everybody else looked just as unsure.

"I suggest south," said a voice from above. We all looked up. On top of the hill of Freedom HQ, there was a black hedgehog with red-striped quills. I'd recognize him anywhere. Shadow the Hedgehog.

"Well well, what are you doing here, faker?" Sonic asked him playfully.

"I came to see if you knew anything about the creatures attacking Westopolis, but it seems you know more than I expected, because of him," he said, pointing at me. "I heard and saw everything that happened down there in the city, I was simply too occupied to assist you three," he added, as he jumped off the hill. "May I join this mission? It seems to be in the best interest of us all," he said.

"Fine by me, as long as you can keep up," said Sonic. We kind of all agreed with that.

"First off though, introductions," said Shadow. He came to Link and I and said. "My name is Shadow, Shadow the Hedgehog."

"Pleased to meet you, Shadow. I am Link, the protector of my world of Hyrule," Link said.

Then I started, hardly containing myself as thoughts about my brother disappeared to the back of my mind. "I- I'm Joseph, you're creator- sort of. I'm happy and honored to meet you." I still managed to keep my excitement at bay.

"The honor is mine, but you do realize that you're not-" Shadow began, but I interrupted him.

"Yes, you were really created by Dr. Gerald Robotnik, Eggman's grandfather, from the DNA of Black Doom. Gerald wanted you to stop Black Doom when the time came, but Black Doom wanted a general for the Black Arms. And you chose Dr. Gerald's path, because Maria, his granddaughter, convinced you that hurting people was not right. The version of you here, is a figment of my imagination. But I think I said too much already."

Shadow was in utter shock when I finished. I could tell because of the way his eyes tensed up and his mouth stayed closed. "How do you know all this?"

I answered, "I've said too much already."

"I had no idea you knew about Shadow," said Sonic. "But I shouldn't be surprised, should I?"

Shadow got up and said, "You need to capture a virus like you said, so I think we should stop wasting time, and get a move on. I received information from GUN that there were viruses south of here, so that's why I suggested it."

"Let's get going then," I said.

"Hey, I have a faster idea," said Sonic. "Shadow, catch," he threw the yellow Chaos Emerald to him. "You can use Chaos Control to get us there right?" he asked.

"Is that doubt I hear?" asked Shadow with a knowing smile. "Chaos-" he started, then as he was saying it, our surroundings glowed, and I could see where we were, and where we were going at the same time, weird. "-CONTROL!"

We ended up seeing a new valley, with a city in front of us.

"Hey! Oh no, not here! They can't be attacking here!" Sonic panicked.

"What?" asked Link.

"Why, zees is New Mobotropolis! Our home! Why would zey do ze attacking here?"

"I detect viruses inside the city walls on my radar," Shadow said.

"MOM! DAD! UNCLE CHUCK!" Sonic yelled, then ran at top speed to the city gate.

I already had a strategy. "Everyone follow Sonic! We'll fight to the last one, then make that one tell us why they are killing me," I said.

"Oui! Charge!" cried Antoine, as the rest of us charged.

Then something hit me, not literally, but it was as if a bigger power than the viruses was present. "Whoa, I didn't know I could do this," I said.

"What?" Link asked.

"I think I'm sensing them, and something bigger here," I answered.

"That sounds like me and Chaos Energy," said Shadow, "like a powerful pulse to your head."

"That's exactly it!" I said. "So I can sense chaos energy! That's gonna be useful!"

We got close to the gates, where Sonic was messing with the controls, "C'mon NICOLE! Talk to me! What's going on?" he cried, slamming a fist on the terminal. A lynx girl came up out of nowhere.

"Sonic! Antoine! Shadow!" she panicked. "Th—Th—they're too much! We can't handle them all!" then she glitched out. Sonic and Antoine looked even more scared.

"I 'ave never seen her like that... She must be under a lot of stressing," said Antoine.

"Take out as many as possible, and tell people to hide somewhere safe, and stop being scared!" Shadow snapped.

Sonic turned toward us with a determined look on his face. "No more games. This got way past personal." He tightened his fist.

The gates opened, and we rushed in. Seeing viruses everywhere, the fight began. Shadow and I went right, Sonic rocketed straight, and Link and Antoine went left. From my perspective, Shadow was getting more viruses than I was, but I wasn't doing too bad I suppose. A virus came up to me, and I slashed it on its hip. I love having a sword! Two more went to Shadow, and Shadow did an orange-glowing spin-dash back at it. He used a Chaos Spear on the other one.

Then I noticed three little Mobian kids throwing rocks at one of them. I thought that was cute, until the virus turned around. I ran in between them facing the virus, and I stabbed it straight through the gut. POOF! I turned to the kids, they looked around 6 or 7, my brother Daniel was 7. "You guys better get to safety, those things are more dangerous than you think," I said to them. They nodded and ran behind a hill.

The black kitten girl said, "Thank you, sir sword-boy!" That was stupid and adorable at the same time, typical for a 6-year-old to say.

Shadow came back, obviously he had something on his mind. "I think we should regroup with the others, there's no more around here," he said.

"Yeah, let's go," I replied. Once we started back, Sonic ran up to us. He looked like he was having fun despite his behavior earlier.

"C'mon! There's more on our end," he said.

"What about your family?" I asked him.

"Already safe. I went to check on them first when the gate opened," he replied.

We went over to the middle of the road, where Antoine and Link were fighting more viruses. And Sonic joined the battle at the front. I supposed that Link and Antoine finished off the ones west of the gates.

We all were in the middle of a skirmish, Link called to me, "How was your flank?"

"Hopefully normal now, I saved some civilians, and Shadow took care of most of the viruses," I said.

"Then hopefully this will go smoothly from here on out," he replied.

It appeared we'd gotten rid of most of them, so we got together to plan the next move. "I think now would be ze good time to catch a prisoner," said Antoine.

"I agree. We must be more conservative with so few of the enemy left," said Shadow.

"So, we are all in agreement?" asked Link. Everyone nodded.

"Then let's do it," I said.

I saw one look at us behind a tree. "Hey! Over here!" I called. They came rushing towards the tree. It rushed us but Sonic pinned it down, while Link did the questioning.

"Trespasser, tell us why you are attacking this place, and every other place for that matter," he demanded.

The virus snarled, then said in a deep hissing voice, "We need to ssurvivvve. Mother will take rezisstance againssst her asss futillle," it said. "Yourr brain tasstesss deliciousss to motherrr. If we be good, and bring mother powerfulll thingss, shhhe will shhare with her chillldrenn," he said pointing to me, then at Shadow's emerald. "When we finnishhd, we will find anotherrr hossst. That isss our naturrrrre."

"'Powerful things' meaning the Chaos Emeralds? How many do you have now?" asked Sonic.

Suddenly a rumbling shook the ground. "Ahhhahahakh, you will be dessstroyed soon enough. Our Aardvirus is here," said the virus as it disappeared. That feeling hit me again, only much stronger this time.

A big CRACK broke out only a few yards away, then a loud "HSQUEEAH!" arose. We went to the middle of the road again to see what it was. I thought I was in a goofy horror movie when I saw this thing.

"A pig? THAT'S the best you guys can come up with? A giant, puce-colored pig?" Sonic laughed hysterically. But this wasn't like any pig I've ever seen before. This creature had a pig's nose, three of the viruses' eyes, enormous bullhorns jutting out the hammerhead (which seemed smaller than a normal virus compared to the giant cheeks), big elephant-like tusks, four claw-like feet with two toes, and a tail like an elephant's, but twisted like a pig's, and spiked all the way down. Plus it was as big as a semi truck's garage.

"Prepare for a boss battle!" cried Link.

I went to my watch, and pressed, 'previous'. I automatically changed into that fox-tailed Sonic I turned into at Freedom HQ. I flew above the so-called 'Aardvirus', and saw some tiny ears below its weirdly shaped head. I also saw that it came from a big hole in the ground, so I guessed it could dig. The 'aardvirus', I get it now, it's like an aardvark, I thought, but normal aardvarks don't go completely underground like that. I flew towards its back, and using Sonic's speed spin-dashed at it. It turned its head, and I flew right into the horn. I landed on the ground hard, I admit I was dazed, but I got right back up.

SQUEEAARRR! It roared again, and I ran to regroup with the others. It wasn't long, since I had Sonic's speed. Link was shooting arrows at it from one direction, while Shadow, in front of me, threw Chaos Spears at the beast.

"Are you all right, citizen?" he asked.

"Citizen? Shadow it's me, Joseph," I answered back.

He looked at me closely and said, "Right, I forgot about your watch. And I didn't get a good look at your mix-up transformation."

"Speaking of which, would you touch it? I think you know what happens," I said. He didn't speak for a moment, then he spoke. "I realize what will happen, but no," he said.

"Why not?" I asked calmly.

He answered, "Because since you know that I'm the ultimate life-form, you should also know that I have unlimited power, and I don't think I should let unlimited power go with one that I don't know I can trust. Do you understand?" I understood him. He made sense to me. If I wanted the ultimate life-form in my playlist, I would have to build more trust in him, be more responsible toward the mission, and to not get too reckless.

"Yes Shadow, I understand," I said, a little disappointed but not much.

We turned back to the battle, Sonic and Antoine were attacking it head-on, and Link was still shooting arrows at the aardvirus from a tree. Sonic finally did a spin-dash at the nose. That irritated it so much, it jumped backwards and dug an escape hole 'til it was gone.

"Well, that was a good exercise! Let's head back to the HQ, we have what we came for," said Sonic. Then the feeling hit again...it was danger! Sure enough, as Sonic was giving the thumbs up, the aardvirus came digging back up. And not only that, but it was running, and as it was running, I heard an "Ahh!" That thing trampled Sonic!

"Monstre!" cried Antoine. "Je vous vengerai, Sonic!" He ran and stabbed its leg, (Not exactly what Antoine usually does) it cried out in pain. It charged at the rest of us, Sonic was left in its tracks. We all got out of its way, it hit the ground head first, and it looked dazed. I saw my chance. Flying overhead, I looked for its bare back, found it. I aimed, then spin-dashed onto its back. The aardvirus squealed like a giant piglet. I felt something about it go away, then I realized it.

"Guys! Aim your attacks on its back while it's dazed! That's its weakness!" I called.

Link looked toward me and nodded. "Alright beast, you brought this on yourself! This is for Sonic!" he yelled. He pulled something out of a little bag, it looked a bit like a vial, and he drank what was in it.

Then he started glowing. Out of nowhere he jumped towards the aardvirus, let it chase him, and then jumped outta the way at the last possible moment. I couldn't believe my eyes. He jumped so high, I thought he was a Super-Link for a second, then I realized he drank a magic vial, from Alexis no doubt. He made the aardvirus hit the bottom of a building, and as he was in mid-air, he prepared his sword for the final blow. "HaaAahhh!" he screamed as he drove the sword into the back of the aardvirus. It squealed even louder this time, then as Link got down and stopped glowing, the aardvirus disappeared. As did the feeling I got from it.

"Link! That was...that was..." I stammered.

"A magic potion to increase one's strength," he said. "Alexis gave it to me, I told her I would use it for a last effort, and it appeared to me this moment was good enough, I mean with Sonic..." he stopped. I knew what he was thinking, and Shadow was there the whole time.

We ran over to Sonic's body, which was in Antoine's arms. "Thank goodnesses you defeated ze beast," Antoine said.

"How is he?" I asked.

"He is coming out of ze unconsciousness," he answered.

"As long as he's alive," I said. I changed back to normal as Sonic started to open his eyes.

"Uhh...that hurts. Twan? Is that you?" he asked.

"You are feeling better non?" Antoine answered.

"I—I don't know, the pig...what happened to it?" Sonic asked.

"Link gave it a powerful final strike Sonic," said Shadow.

"Really?" he asked. "Whew!" He tried to stand up, "Now we have...OW!" he started to fall, but Antoine caught him.

"You have been hurted very much, mon ami," Antoine said.

"No really, I can stand! Probably just pulled a muscle," said Sonic. He tried to stand up again, but winced and fell down again. He kept trying and trying, and I could tell all of us were getting worried, even Shadow showed some concern. "Antoine, what the heck is wrong with me?" Sonic asked desperately.

"I do not know, but to be finding out will be facile. Allo, NICOLE!" Antoine called.

Again the lynx girl NICOLE, showed up out of nowhere.

"How does she do that?" asked Link.

NICOLE answered, "I am an artificial intelligence program, and you are seeing me as a hologram."

Link looked at me confused. "Just think of her as a man-made spirit, okay?" I said.

"Actually I'm part of a machine..." NICOLE started. I signaled her to stop, she nodded.

"Okay. Is Sonic alright?" she asked.

"He was trampled by a giant virus creature. It dug underground, then came back up charging and Sonic was in its path, of course he's not alright," Shadow said.

"I'll check on his injuries." she said.

NICOLE knelt down next to Sonic, who was still in pain. "Sonic, what hurts?" she asked him.

"It's my entire body, but my legs... I can't stand up," he sounded worried. A beam shined from NICOLE's hand. It scanned Sonic awhile, then NICOLE gasped.

"Sonic, has this ever happened to you before?"

"What?" he asked.

"Uhh...Sonic, it's mostly bruises, but...your legs are...broken."

"Good one NICOLE! Hahaha! My legs! Broken! Like that could happen to me! Hahahahaha ha...oh chaos help me!" Sonic panicked. Apparently this hadn't happened to him before. "What's gonna happen to me now? I can't stand, I can't run, I can't...fight...!" he gasped.

"You will have to go back home, mon ami," said Antoine, "I will take you there."

Sonic tried to rebuke him, "But Twan, the others, they need..."

"You are more important to us now. Will you be coopérative eef I take you to Dr. Quack?" asked Antoine.

Sonic winced again. "O-okay man," he said reluctantly. "Shadow," Sonic said, "here." He threw the white Chaos Emerald to Shadow. "Take it. The viruses have some already, maybe the rest, just make sure you guys use 'em to stop the Virus Mother."

Shadow nodded. "You get some rest, blue hedgehog," he said as Antoine carried Sonic into the city.

"I was contacted by Sally about your situation. There's a portal on the other side of the city that I believe you can use," said NICOLE.

"Thanks NICOLE. Oh, but why were you afraid? You can't actually feel fear can you?" I asked.

"Yes I can approximate emotional distress, but an outburst like that is unusual for me. Does that answer your question?" she replied.

"Yes, thank you," I said.

She smiled, "It was a pleasure to meet you, Joseph." and then she disappeared.

"So, this means Sonic is not going to come with us, doesn't it?" I said.

"Unfortunately yes, but we keep moving, no matter the cost," Shadow said.

"Please don't quote anybody right now Shadow, especially not Optimus Prime," I replied.

He looked at me and said, "Optimum...prime...like prime cut ribs? What are you talking about?"

"Never mind," I sighed.

END OF CHAPTER


	4. Unlikely Allies and Enemies

With Sonic injured, he couldn't continue the mission with us. So Link, Shadow, and I had to go to the portal without him and Antoine. Once we got to the portal, I needed to relay some info, "This, Shadow, is a portal like the one Link and I came through to come to the Mobius realm."

"Hmph. Doesn't seem too bad," he said. There was a pause as he just stared at it with a grimace. "So, what are we waiting for?" he added.

Link was the one to go first this time. Shadow had to go back to G.U.N. for a report on his mission. When he came back, he was armed with a Beretta 96, and a belt full of ammo. "Wow, it took you 10 minutes and you're packing heat?" I asked.

"First, I had to report what I saw, then I received orders to help you, and get whatever weapons I deemed were necessary. So now I am an official member of this party." he answered. I nodded. I went in the portal next, and Shadow was right behind me.

"What took you two so long?" said Link when we arrived.

"Shadow had to report to his base," I said.

"Great, and you left me here to worry that you might have been captured, or worse."

"Sorry Link, I had to wait for Shadow too." I looked at where we were. This place was weirder than both Hyrule and Mobius.

Quick description: brick blocks floated above our heads, the sky was a nice and friendly blue, spotted mountains were in the distance, and we were about 20 yards away from the gate of another town.

"I don't like the look of this place," said Shadow.

"I think I know where we are, but just to be sure let's check this out," I said. When we got there, there was a big sign over the top that said, "Toad Town". "I knew it!" I exclaimed, "We're in the Mushroom Kingdom!"

"Wait, what?" asked Link.

"Oh that's right. I remember this place," Shadow said.

"Were you here before, Shadow?" I asked.

He looked at me, then said in a soft voice, "I have once."

"Let's all go find this realm's hero, and I think I might know the way to his house," I said.

We started walking through Toad Town, and as expected, there weren't actual amphibious toads, but mushroom people called Toadstools, 'Toads' for short, and for the girls, 'Toadettes'. To the left I saw a big, green, open pipe, sticking out of the ground and leading to who-knows-where. "That's where we need to go," I said.

"Perfect. Just perfect," Shadow said sarcastically, "I even greased my quills while I was at base." He mumbled to himself.

I went down the pipe first, it was quite an experience. It was dark, and I was moving pretty fast. Going up and down and left and right. Pretty soon I forgot which way up was! I went through a segment that flipped me over into the other direction. I kept going as fast as I was before only this time head-first. Before I knew it, I saw the light. I ended up in the front yard of a house, this particular house had a sign over the door that said, 'MARIO'.

Link came out of the pipe next, looking a little dizzy. "That...was...too fast," he said weakly.

Shadow came out next, looking more disappointed than sick. "Hmph, just too slow," he said.

"Here we are," I said. "Hey Shadow, would you knock on the door? I think you know them better than we do," I asked.

"Why does it have to be me? I'm more than just a doorknocker."

"Something bothering you, Shadow?" I asked.

"...It's nothing, just this world. It's getting on my nerves," he said.

We went to the doorstep, and Shadow knocked on the door. It was opened by an Italian looking guy in overalls with a mustache. But he only opened the door a crack, so I couldn't really tell exactly who it was, until he squealed and closed the door in panic.

"Darnit, Luigi! It's me, Shadow the Hedgehog! Remember? We competed in the Olympic Games with Sonic's and your brother's friends!" Shadow shouted. We waited a moment for Luigi to answer. Then the door opened, and there he was, looking like he was scared stiff.

"But who are they? How do I know you haven't been-a brainwashed by-a those monsters, like Mario was?"

"What?" we asked. Something happened to Mario?

"Tell me who you two are, then I'll tell you what I know," said Luigi.

"I'm Joseph, this entire place is in my imagination, and it's being attacked! This, Luigi, is a matter of life and death! For all of us!" I cried.

"He's telling the truth. I'm Link of Hyrule, and we need to know what you know about these 'weird creatures,'" said Link.

Luigi still looked freaked, but said, "At least you're not a-the monsters. Come on inside, it's-a not safe out here."

Luigi led us through the door, inside was a small table with two matching red and green chairs. "This-a way!" he whispered.

He led us through a smaller door, into a bedroom with bunk beds, a desk with letters on it, and a file cabinet. Luigi opened up a secret passage in the floor, he jumped down with Link close behind.

"Watch out guys! There is some type of big spring." he called.

Shadow went down next, "Whoa!" he said softly. "You meant that type of spring? I was preparing myself to get wet."

I went down last. BOING. I bounced on a spring all right, right into Luigi and Link, who both got knocked over.

"Sorry," I said. My watch beeped. "New addition has been added to playlist." I looked at it, a picture of Luigi showed up. That was unexpected but, I was going to do it anyway.

"What was that all about?" asked Luigi.

"I think we should start at the beginning," said Link.

So we started telling Luigi about our adventure thus far, Shadow ended it at when Luigi opened his door.

"So these monsters are-a viruses, and a-their momma wants to eat Giuseppe's brain?" Luigi asked.

"Almost," said Link, "there is no 'Joo-zeh-peh' involved in this."

"'Giuseppe' is the Italian version of my name, Link," I said. "Luigi's got the gist of it."

"And don't forget, they also want the Chaos Emeralds. We cannot let them find them," said Shadow.

"And-a how many do you have?" asked Luigi. We showed him the emeralds. "Oh, yeah! That's-a two down!" he said, eyeing the crystals with awe. The emeralds shined brightly in the dark underground bunker.

Only about two yards wide, with a desk at the end, and on the desk, was two books. One was titled: Secrets of the Stars, the other, had a blank green cover. I went to take a look.

"What are these?" I asked Luigi.

"Oh, this is a-my research, and a-my journal," he said taking the green book.I looked at the stars book, it was bookmarked at a certain page.

"Luigi, may I take a look at this?" I asked.

"Sure, go ahead, you could learn something about a-the Star Spirits," he said.

"The what?" Link asked.

"Here, look at the book. Wow, it's even bookmarked on the right page," I exclaimed.

Everyone came over to the desk, what was there was a picture of seven stars with faces. Eldstar, who was a yellow star with a big, white mustache. Mamar, who was an orange female star, with a pink bow on her top point. Skolar, who was a lavender-purple star, with glasses, small, brown eyebrows, and a small, pointy mustache. Muskular, was a blue star, with a blue sailor's hat. Misstar, was a pink female star (pretty obvious), with a gold ribbon around her 'shoulders'. Klevar, was a yellow star with a magenta bow tie, rosy cheeks, and he held a book under his 'arm'. Finally, Kalmar, was a yellow star with a small, bushy, black mustache and a peaceful smile.

"I thought I heard one a-them say something about going to Star Haven, you think maybe they are a-trying to kidnap them?" he asked.

"If that is true, we should find someone who knows where Star Haven is. And further, we should assume, that they are trying to capture them," I said.

"Merlon!" Luigi gasped with excitement.

"Who?" Link asked.

"Of course! He guided Mario there, why not us?" I exclaimed.

"Uh...by 'us' you mean you three...right? Right?" said Luigi nervously.

Remembering how easily Luigi gets scared, I told him, "How about this, we will go to Merlon together, then when Mario is rescued from the viruses, along with the Star Spirits, you can come back here. We'll move on."

Luigi considered that a moment. He looked up. "Okie-dokie, I'll-a take you to him. But after the rescues, I'll-a return home. All that fighting will a-be enough, as long as-a Mario is ah-good to go. But-a your watch, why did it beep-beep?" Luigi asked.

"You were added to my transformation list, since I accidentally tackled you and Link," I said.

We got out of the secret basement, on our way to Merlon's house. In the dining room close to the door, I saw Shadow's gun, left on the counter. "Hey, Shadow," I said.

"Yes?" he answered.

"Why did you leave your gun there?" I asked as he went to pick them up.

"It was a precaution, just in case viruses would find this place, so that they wouldn't see it. Also, I...didn't want to scare Luigi too much," he said.

"Smart move," said Link.

We all went outside. "Okay Luigi, you know where Merlon's place is, let's get going," I said. Luigi led the way to the pipe, then stopped.

"Why are you stopping? There's no time to lose," said Shadow. "Remember everyone, the viruses are-a still out there. And they most likely brainwashed even more powerful people than Mario," he said.

"If it were me all alone, I'd be hopeless. Now that you're here, I have some hope!" Luigi exclaimed. Then he jumped down the pipe, the rest of us followed him.

After going through the piping system, we popped out in the middle of a battle. Obviously the viruses were on one side, and some other creatures were fighting them. Some had blob-like bodies, with little hairs all over, I supposed they were some of my white blood cells. Others were yellow turtles with different colored shells and shoes, some of those had wings. Koopa Troopas. Still others were creatures with big heads, no arms, and some of those had wings, not to mention a few with a spiked hat on the top of their heads. And very small in size. Goombas. And some toads were fighting alongside them!?

"Quick sub-reality check: toads, goombas, and koopa troopas, fighting viruses, together? What's going on?" I asked, my surprise was evident in my tone.

"Luigi!" called a high-pitched girly voice, and a tomboy voice at the same time. Two girls ran up to us, they were both in dresses, one pink, one yellow, and they both had crowns on their heads.

The yellow-dressed one ran up to Luigi and gave him a big hug. It kinda reminded me of Sonic and Amy, except Luigi didn't resist, he just blushed really hard.

"D-Daisy! Peach! I'm-a so glad to see you two are alright! What's-a goin' on here?" Luigi asked.

"It got so terrible fighting these monsters," explained the pink-dressed one, Princess Peach, "that we had to resort to a short truce with Bowser's forces."

Luigi went pale, "WaaAah! Y—you mean you had t—to team up with h-him?" he shouted.

He probably screamed too loud, because the viruses came to us now. And I saw a glimpse of their general. He didn't look like a virus, he looked like a tall, fat guy with a long, wide mustache. He also had dark eyeglasses, and goggles on his head.

"Is that who I think it is?" I asked, pointing at him.

"I don't believe it!" Shadow gasped. "It's the Doctor! What's he doing here, and working with them?"

"Yes, he came with the monsters, disrupted our tea time, and... did something terrible to Mario..." Princess Daisy said.

I saw Peach tearing up, so I went over to her. "Hey, whatever he did to him, we'll try to reverse it, if we can," I said.

Peach nodded. "You sort of remind me of Mario, what is your name?" she asked.

"I'm Joseph, that's Link over there, and you probably remember Shadow the Hedgehog," I said.

"An honor to see you again, princesses," Shadow said.

"And for me an honor to meet you for the first time," said Link.

"How very polite! We need all the help we can get to rescue Mario, you will help us...right?" Peach asked.

"That is part of a-why we are here, keeping the Star Spirits safe is the other part," said Luigi.

"The Star Spirits are in danger? Oh my!" Peach gasped.

"That's what we assume, anyway-" I heard bullet shots, come from right next to me. Shadow was shooting a virus that got very close to us.

"Actions speak louder than words. Let's get moving!" That was a signal to stop talking and start fighting, and it couldn't have been clearer.

Luigi, Peach, and Daisy went one way, Link, Shadow, and I went another direction.

Link took a post behind a tree, setting up his bow. Shadow kept a safe distance and began firing at the closest monsters. I used my watch to turn into Luigi. But I also gave myself Luigi's striker suit (which looked really awesome), put black stripes on the chest armor, a Zorro mask, and reversed the 'L' on all. So basically I turned myself into a Mr. L (if you've heard of him) in a striker suit. And of course I had my special sword. Shadow shot a rally of bullets, Link was firing arrows, and I was on the enemies like icing on a cupcake. A slash here, and stab there, a backflip and javelin-throw over there. Phew! What a workout!

After that wave, I looked toward Dr. Eggman. He was much closer to us now, so I could see him more easily. He wasn't dressed exactly like himself. His usual red coat wasn't on him, but he was wearing a plum colored coat instead. I looked below him, and I saw Bowser for the first time. He was fighting some robots Eggman was throwing toward him, Bowser was fighting well enough, but losing energy fast.

"I'm going to reinforce Bowser!" I called to the guys as I ran over to him. They had a weird look on their faces, but didn't attempt to stop me. When I reached him, he looked at me funny.

"Huh!? Mr. L? In a striker suit too? Don't tell me, you're with him!" he roared. He must not have known who I was really.

"No Bowser, I am not, he's over there," I said pointing to Luigi in another area.

"Bwah ha hah! Well whadaya know! The cowardly brother comes to the rescue! Yeah, this kingdom's pretty much doomed no matter who wins!" he said.

"Don't say that," I told him.

"Oh, have you given up already?" asked the voice of Dr. Eggman.

Bowser and I looked up. He was over our heads, and had stopped throwing robots. "No way! I've got backup now!" Bowser roared back. Then he looked at me and said silently, "If you're not with Dr. Eggman, then you're my backup. Otherwise I'll stomp you into the ground!"

"Deal. And there's more than just me," I replied. I lifted my sword up, a big red beam shot up from it. I hoped everyone would see it, and come here soon. First came Link from my right, Peach and Daisy from my left.

"Oh NO! They got to Luigi!" screamed Peach. Daisy sprinted up to me. "Luigi, talk to me! Tell me you're not brainwashed! PLEASE!" she yelled and shook me.

"Uh...okie-dokie. I'm-a not brainwashed," said the real Luigi from behind her.

"Luigi! You're okay!" she cried overjoyed with relief.

"WaaAah! Wh—who is that?!" he squealed.

"Hmm, he looks like Mr. L, your evil brainwashed self, wearing a striker suit," said Peach.

"That's what I thought! W-Wait a minute...Mr. L was Luigi?!" Bowser said.

"Don't you remember Bowser? Flipside, The Whoa Zone, Sammer's Kingdom?" asked Peach.

"Oh yeah! Now I remember, but I still don't get it." he replied.

"Guys, it's me! I changed myself into this," I said.

"I saw him change his form myself," Link confirmed.

"Excuse me, I hate to be the one to stop this exposition dump but, I'M STILL HERE!" yelled Dr. Eggman.

"No one cares, Doctor," said Shadow as he appeared out of nowhere, and hit Eggman in the back of the head.

"Ouch! Shadow? I didn't expect to see you here, if I ever thought anyone from my world would show up, I'd first expect it to be Sonic," he said, quickly recovering from his former ally's blow. "And I'd like to see who this dark Luigi really is," Eggman continued.

"Okay, Eggman. You asked for it!" I said, touching my watch. I transformed back to normal.

"HA hahahaha! You're just a stupid little boy! This is going to be much easier than I thought, although I admit I kinda wanted a bit of a challenge anyway." Eggman chuckled. "Oh! I have a challenge idea, but it can only be for two of you, so choose amongst yourselves which of you shall be defeated," he said, "You can come out now, Agent M."

A black figure jumped out from behind a nearby house. He looked like the original Mr. L, but had red in place of green, the same black parts, and instead of a backwards L in a black background on his hat, this guy had a red symbol that looked like an 'M' turned counter-clockwise one-quarter turn, kind of like the Greek letter sigma, but unintentionally so. He also had an Eggman insignia badge on his left overall strap.

"That's Mario! It has to be!" Peach gasped.

"With Agent M on our side, we'll capture the Star Spirits, get the Chaos Emeralds, so we can use their power to take over the creator! Oh, ho ho ho!" he announced.

"Why would you do that? They'd destroy everything! There would be nothing to take!" I tried to reason.

"Nonsense! The viruses have promised to protect me when they are finished, so Agent M and I would be the last ones to survive, and conquer!" he said. I facepalmed. He oughta be as gullible as Knuckles! I thought.

"I propose a two-on-two fight. Agent M and I, against two of your group. It will save the trouble of so many creatures that would be destroyed anyway," said Dr. Eggman.

"Bwa ha hah! I'm going up there! I could beat up that jerk, and my mortal enemy at the same time!" Bowser laughed.

"Huddle up guys," I said. "What do you guys think about this? Should we fight him two-on-two, or what?" I asked.

"I say it's worth the risk, though he could double-cross us, and get away with the Star Spirits," said Shadow.

"Can we trust him at all? He could put a decoy in for his replacement while he takes the Star Spirits!" Link exclaimed.

"What do the Star Spirits have to do with anything? I know they're in danger, but why?" Peach asked.

So we filled her in on that briefly. "I remember how Mario used the Star Spirits to defeat me, maybe I can have my revenge on him for that," said Bowser.

"Bowser, you're not making me like you any more by saying such evil things," said Peach.

"Or...you and Joseph could defeat them, and then find a way to unbrainwash Mario, then plot your revenge," Shadow suggested.

"Mr. Shadow! Please!" Peach said.

"So...anyone else agree to me and Bowser against them?" I asked. They all nodded, knowing that going along with this was the best way to keep the casualties at a minimum.

"Have you all decided, then?" asked the Doctor.

"Yes, on a few conditions," I announced.

"Conditions...?"

"Number one: No going back on your word Eggman." I said.

"Granted. Any more?"

"Number two: If we win, you tell us how to free Mario of whatever happened to him, and let me explain the situation to you. Number three: No putting decoys in place of ourselves. That will be considered against condition number one. Number four: If you win, we will go our ways and leave you to terrorize whoever. Sound good?"

He had an intense look on his face, I wondered if he was trying to look for a loophole. "You set the stakes high, kid. I hereby take back calling you stupid. I'll abide by your terms, but only if you tell me who you are," Dr. Eggman requested.

"I am Joseph, the creator, that you, yourself spoke of," I boldly said.

He leaned forward at my introduction. "Ho ho ho ho! Well now, this is a surprise. I think you just raised the stakes even higher, towards my favor," he said, "for you see, if I destroy you now, we would have already won! Without the need for Stars or Emeralds! HA hahahahaha!" he declared.

"Then I guess you and Bowser have to win," whispered Daisy.

"Okay, then let's get it over with," I said. Dr. Eggman pushed a button on his control panel, the effects were unexpected. A checkered floor shot out from his hovercraft thingy, and when we stepped on it, it grew rails on all four sides, and flew into the air. "This will be our arena, do treat it nicely if you will. I don't want my insurance rates to go down, it'll be bad for my rep," Eggman said.

"Psst...Bowser, grab my wrist," I whispered.

"Why? I'm not that kind of Koopa! And besides, what will Peach think when she sees us looking like were holding hands?" he whispered back, which kinda sounded weird with a slight rumble.

"Uh uh, it's not anything like that!" I shook my hands in front of myself, "If you touch it, it will give you the edge you need, more or less," I replied.

"Edge? Aww yeah! Lay it on me!" he exclaimed with a soft roar. Bowser grabbed my wrist, there was a problem though. "Did it work yet?" he asked.

"Bowser, you're holding the wrong hand," I corrected.

"Oh, so it's your left hand!" Bowser grabbed my left hand. "Hey, nice watch! Where can I get one? Jr. would love it! He needs to learn to tell time." he asked. "New addition has been added to playlist," beeped my watch. "Whoa, it's a music player, like an Apple Watch, too?"

"No, but it worked," I said. I looked at the watch, a picture of Bowser with a mushroom was showing. I made what I wanted, pushed the screen, and when the shining stopped, I looked like an altered Bowser. I had his hands and feet turned yellow, going into orange with a fire pattern. The shell had metal spikes, with black scales in-between. The head had black scales as well, with red-tipped bull horns, pupil-less eyes, and eyebrows and hair made of real fire. I decided to call this form, 'Magma Bowser.'

"Well this is a surprise! Now you've really hyped up the stakes, HO hohohoho!" exclaimed Eggman.

"That is awesome! You turned into me! What did I turn into?" Bowser asked.

"Uh, you're...the same, only bigger?" I lied.

"Sweet! Now let's grill some Mr. M and stir up an omelette!" Bowser said.

"It's AGENT M you buffoon!" Eggman yelled at him.

TO BE CONTINUED


	5. The Arena

Now the battle began. The rails became electrified, which meant that was the weakness, for all. I rushed Eggman, which would have taken a shorter time if I wasn't so slow. He pushed a button on the controls. Instantly his hovercraft began transforming. New guns and missiles on the side, bigger boost jets, and robotic legs, changing from a hovercraft thingy, to a robot walker war machine. He shot missiles at me. I breathed fire at them, and they disintegrated. Wow, my fire was powerful!

"Hey wait," Bowser said, "How come my fire isn't like that? It's as if I'm exactly the same!"

"Uh, well...you didn't change...at all. Unless you mean that you grew a few microns the past few seconds," I told him.

"But you said..."

"Actually Bowser, what I did was, I copied you into my watch, and then changed your form in there," I said dodging more of Eggman's missiles.

"So...I can't have more power...unless YOU are ME?" he roared.

"Pretty much. I did say 'more or less'."

"You tricked him? Very clever, boy. If only you weren't the creator, you'd be a shoe in for a lowly officer of my Eggman Empire!" said Eggman, ceasing fire just to say that.

"Um...okay," I said, not sure how to take his...was it a compliment? I definitely needed more than tricks to stop this mustached man. WHACK! I didn't notice the other mustached man here do his galactic spin attack on me.

"Hohohoho, howch!" Egghead said as Bowser did a sneak attack.

"Bwa ha ha ha! You've never been in the Super Smash Brothers before, have you? Here's your first taste!" he growled.

Super Smash Bros.? Wait, if SSB is a thing here, then Link should know almost everyone he's met! Does he not remember? I thought to myself. I pushed that question out of the way for the moment, and refocused. Agent M took a defensive position and I did the same. "Mario, I know you have to be in there somewhere," I said, "please, fight this."

Agent M didn't react in any way, as if he didn't hear me, like a robot. He jumped up, about to land on me, or ground pound. He spun mid-air, a ground pound was definitely coming. I slid out of the way, and he missed. That wasn't easy with this heavy body. I pinned him down, then picked him up with Bowser's strength and threw him into the electric fence.

BZZZBZZZZ. A part of me didn't want to do it, because I thought of it as saving him from his... infection. However, another part of me felt...excited for some reason, as if my desires were becoming less like mine. I thought for a second that I saw Mario's regular eyes coming back from his mask, which gave me a little bit of hope, as he got back up. He ran toward me, jumped right over my head, and grabbed my little tail.

"Uh oh," I thought. I knew what was next. "Bowser! He's got me! Look out!" I screamed. I saw him throwing a punch at Eggman's machine, but it missed.

"Oh ho ho, what could Agent M possibly do next?" it was Eggman's voice.

"I know what. Hey, other Bowser! Just breathe!" Bowser roared. Agent M started spinning me, so I breathed fire everywhere as he kept it going. Then he let go, sending me flying toward Bowser. He sidestepped and I went in the electric fence.

"Bwahaha! You deserve that for tricking me, you punk! And by the way, just because we're on the same side now doesn't make us friends! In fact I'll see to it your life will be miserable in my kingdom! But that's for another day." Bowser said. Just great, now I have an enemy that hates me more than chocolate on tomatoes. Actually I'm not sure if Bowser does hate that.

As I recovered from an excruciating third-degree burn feeling, I felt...smaller. I looked at my hand, and it was normal. So that meant the electric fence short-circuited my watch and changed me back to human. I managed to get myself back up.

"You hurt my Egg walker, and you'll pay for that!" said Dr. Eggman from my right.

"Would you accept cash, check, or credit?" I asked.

"I'll only accept cold, hard, violence now! Besides, I think you've overcharged your balance!" Eggman smugly stated. Jeez that was a bad joke. I went to my watch, my fiery Bowser was still there, thank goodness. But I decided to try something that would definitely throw Dr. Eggman off guard. I hit the button, and he visibly flinched at my new transformation.

"What! Sonic! How...where...?" said a confused Doctor.

"You didn't think I wouldn't show up sooner or later, did you Eggman?" I said, seizing the opportunity to really confuse him. I transformed into an unchanged Sonic the Hedgehog, and I even had Sonic's actual voice!

"Rrrgh... You cannot stop me, Sonic, because now I have someone to take you out, Agent M!" he said. Immediately Agent M came in between Dr. Eggman and me. I thought I should sound convincingly surprised.

"Hey, Mario! What's up? That a new-," he ran to punch me, I rolled out of the way. "-look? What's up with you?"

Dr. Eggman replied, "He works for me now. How would you like two on one, Hedgehog, with the odds against you?"

"Ha! No problem! The odds are always in my favor, or did you never watch that movie, Egghead?" I taunted.

"I prefer to read the source material first!" Eggman thrusted his arm at me and Agent M charged at me. I glanced over to where Bowser was, he was lying on the ground, apparently tired. I sped around in circles, to confuse Eggman and Agent M, until I could hide myself behind Bowser.

"Come on, get up! It's not over yet ya big turtle!" I said softly, using a Dr. Eggman impression.

He opened his eyes a little, "Nobody...calls...me...TURTLE!" he growled. He got up immediately, and with new energy, charged the two virus soldiers. He tackled Agent M, and flailed him into the electric fence. BZZZBZZZZ. Then he went to attack Eggman, so I attacked from behind. I sped behind Dr. Eggman, Bowser was throwing punches and breathing fire. I waited for Bowser to push him towards the fence. They got close enough. I jumped to the right, and spin-dashed at the hull of his walker, thrusting him to the fence. BZZZZBZZZBZZZZ. I got him down.

"Whoa!" I said as Agent M came out of nowhere tackling me to the floor.

Eggman's machine burst into a series of explosions, but that wasn't what I was focusing on. Agent M looked more powerful, because he was glowing light blue. I naturally went to my fighting stance, and pulled out my sword from the ether. Agent M pulled out a big black hammer. Figures. He attacked first, and then we went into a full-on duel.

Once Agent M and I were locked in place for a second, I had an idea. "So, Eggman, how did this happen to Mario?" I asked.

"I'll answer that when this is over. Come, Egg Pawns!" he called. Suddenly, a group of robots that all looked a little like the Doctor shot up from the squares.

"Hey! No fair! I didn't bring any of my minions!" Bowser said.

"He's right, Doc. That's cheating, and that's an automatic forfeit if I ever saw one." I seconded.

"Oh, okay. I'll try something else, something I've been saving for a long time," he said as he sent the Egg Pawns away. A glowing light surrounded Dr. Eggman. He had his own new outfit. "Behold, Sonic, my newest invention! I realized that the reason I could never beat you before, was partly due to the fact that I never saw you coming, unless I foresaw it in my plans. So I've decided to try a new, different approach to defeating you: brute force! My new and improved Hard-Light Armor Mk II shall be your doom! Hahahahahaha!"

I'll admit I never thought he would think of using an exosuit to defeat Sonic, and this suit looked pretty sleek being made of hard light. I put away my sword, and Eggman strode over to me.

"My suit also comes with mini arm cannons," he said as they switched on, "an energy blaster on the chest," he pointed to it, "and most importantly, air boosters included with the jetpack to go fast!" he turned sideways to show off.

"So what? I've beaten you in a robot way bigger than that. What makes you think this is any different?" I challenged.

"Because Hedgehog, I'm going to kill you!" He knocked me into the electric fence when he said that last word. TZZZ ZZZ ZZZ was all I heard.

After another third-degree burn pain, I got up again. "Now you're gonna get it, changing into my sworn enemy to throw me off, Joseph. I have to admit, you almost had me." Eggman retorted. I realized that he meant that my trick failed. I was normal again. "Analysis complete," came a voice. "Oh, if you will excuse me for a moment, I have to take this." Eggman said. He went over to his hovercraft's remains and synced his suit. "Hmm... not what I expected to see," he remarked.

"What?" I asked, in my normal voice again.

"Evidently, you can transform because of your watch, but you most likely knew that," the Doctor went on. "I think this will do!" He shot a bolt of energy at my watch, and it went dead! "Oh, good old EMPs. They are so helpful," he exclaimed. An electromagnetic pulse. Darn! No transforming for who knows how long.

What am I going to do now!? This watch has become my main weapon! Without it, I have no power to...

Suddenly, I remembered something from shortly after Link met me.

"Now that you are powerless, I can defeat you much easier," Eggman said.

"Oh really?" I questioned. I pulled out my sword, just in case what I was about to do would not work. Something from behind me went SHIK, and to Dr. Eggman's, surprise, I grew the spikes out of my back again!

"What? B-but that's impossible!" Dr. Eggman stammered.

"Oh no it's not, my watch is just a catalyst," I told him. I put my sword away, and I imagined myself with tiger-claw laser blades. SHIEEN! But I did feel a little weaker, like my hands just took a harmless chemical bath.

"Gnaaaah!" he yelled as he shot his arm cannons. I dived out of the way, then ran back up, and SWISH...I sliced the back of his suit. "No! My power!" TCHGZZTCHGZZ the Hard-Light Armor Mk II flickered, until finally it vanished. Dr. Eggman was officially defeated.

I took a look over to Bowser, he actually defeated Agent M, who was unconscious in Bowser's hateful grip. "I...finally...defeated you, MARIOOOO!" He exclaimed with heaving breaths as he looked up triumphantly at the sky. Then fell on his shell laughing maniacally, having all of his energy finally used to the fullest.

I looked back at Eggman, "The battle is over Eggman, we win," I said. "Now how do we turn Mario back to normal?"

"Nnmh. I can't help you. I wasn't part of the process, it was the viruses!" he reluctantly said.

Shoot. "Do you have any idea as to how we can fix him then?" I pulled on his puce colored coat's collar, bringing our faces closer. My eyebrows were knit together and my teeth were clenched.

"M-maybe you can find some sort of magician? Just please, don't kill me! Shadow's done that too many times in his delusions!" Eggman pleaded.

"What?"

"You don't know? Shadow's in your party so I thought you knew about it. Although, on second thought, that's not like Shadow at all."

"Shadow's killed you?" I demanded more than asked.

"Not in reality! He was put in a medical pod shortly after Metal Sonic tried to destroy us all! It was something about an existential crisis, and finding out who he was, anyway the people at GUN used a virtual reality-type program to simulate an apocalypse by alien invasion. I know because I hacked into the system to see it." the Doctor explained.

"Why did GUN do this to Shadow?" I asked.

"I think it had something to do about whether he was a trustworthy ally or not. They put him through many trials, and in a few of them he killed me! It was honestly very scary!"

That explained a lot actually, but unfortunately it wasn't what I was looking for.

"We got off track. I still have to say something to you." I said. I then explained my situation to him.

"So... you think they will double-cross me at the last minute, then use the Emeralds and Star Spirits to destroy everything? Killing you?" Dr. Eggman asked as I finished explaining the Virus Mother's plan, and my predictions of what would happen to those who joined them based on what I knew.

"Yes, that's what I think will happen, if I don't stop them," I said.

"But how do I know that you're telling the truth?" he asked.

"Why don't you ask one of them yourself? I'm sure if you talk to them the right way, you'll get that answer," I replied.

"Good idea! Now could you get off of me? My ribs can't take much more of your knees." I got off him. He looked pretty weird in that virus allegiance jacket. Which he was...taking off, as he was heading towards his downed Egg walker? He opened a compartment, and pulled out his signature red jacket. This meant he would go rogue against the viruses now. "Ahhh, back in my old red again," he mused. "Well, I think we should get down now," he said. He pushed a button on the hovercraft control panel, and the checkered floor started going down.

"Now I'd like to take Agent M with me to be cured. You'd let me do that won't you?" I asked.

"Fine, just wait for the arena to land."

"We're not falling to the ground, are we?" asked Bowser, who walked over to us with Agent M over his shoulder, unconscious still. "By the way, kid. We're still not cool, but I'm beat after my fight with this tomato sack. Next time we meet, I'll crush you under my foot."

I gulped. The way he said that and the fact that he was tired made it sound much more menacing. "So, uh, why do I feel like we're in a free-falling elevator?" I asked.

"Hmm, we do seem to be falling a bit faster than usual," said Dr. Eggman, "maybe the retro rockets aren't working properly. That could also mean a bumpier–"

CRASHHHH!

"–landing."

A little dazed after that big crash, I got up to see if everyone was all right, and I saw Link, Luigi, and Daisy looking at me. I looked around more, Peach was taking Mario from Bowser. She was worried about him, even cradling him in her arms. I wouldn't blame her. Shadow, however, was nowhere to be seen.

"I don't understand, who won the battle?" Link asked.

"Bowser and I won. Dr. Eggman has decided to break his agreement with the viruses," I said. "Where's Shadow?" I asked.

"He will be back soon with Merlon, we decided to bring him here to save time," Link answered.

"Smart, that means we might cure Mario faster," I said.

"How?" asked Luigi jumping in.

"Dr. Eggman guessed that we need a magician to make a cure. Merlon is a good wizard, so he'll be able to do it," I explained. I went over to Peach, still holding Mario on her lap, with almost tears in her eyes. "We'll have Merlon concoct a cure, Peach," I said.

"I can tell he's still in there, trapped, struggling, fighting to come back to us. He can't do it alone," she said, holding back a sob.

"He's not alone, he's got you, Peach. And given that...well, I don't want to sound..."

"I know what you mean Joseph. Thank you," she said with a small smile.

We were interrupted by a noise from my watch, it must have rebooted. Then the incoming call sound rung. It was Alexis.

"Excuse me guys, I have a call." I went by myself to talk to her. "Hello?"

"Hello, Joseph. Where are you now?" she asked.

"I'm in the Mushroom Kingdom; Toad Town to be exact," I told her plainly.

"Ah. Alrighty then, what has happened there?" I gave her a brief explanation. "That's why I couldn't reach you earlier!" she exclaimed as I said of Eggman's EMP. "So you managed to rescue Mario, Dr. Eggman is leaving, and the viruses are headed to try and capture the Star Spirits? Well that's just peachy," she said sarcastically. "Have you forgotten about your brother?" she asked. That question surprised me, I did forget about Matt.

"Uhh...not completely. Any news about him?" I asked her.

"Yes. I can see him through my ball." she answered.

"I thought that ball was only audio," I said.

She answered rather jokingly, but truthful, "I use another ball if I want to observe two things at once, genius!" Unexpected, to say the least.

"Oh...kay. Anyway, do you know where he is?" I asked.

"As far as I know, he just left the realm of Modern Warfare," she said, "It's a very small realm, I'm not sure why."

I could think of an explanation. I'm not a big fan of Modern Warfare, and therefore I know very little about it. So if my imagination depends on my experience with a certain thing, and I don't have experience with MW, naturally the realm would be pretty puny compared to things I'm more fond of.

"All right, Alexis, now the rest of my family," I said.

"They visit you frequently, they pray that you will come back, and they even bring friends and extended family." Now that made me want to go home even more.

"Okay Alexis, thank you for telling me, and call if something major happens," I said, a tone of sorrow in my voice. I hung up after she returned my goodbye.

Shadow came down the road with somebody behind him. He had a robe that looked angled in many places, very dark teal with strange patterns. I couldn't see his face, save only two glowing yellow spots for eyes like a Jawa from Star Wars. He also had a brooch with a star on it that fastened his rectangular robe, and a huge, white, bushy mustache going down close to his feet, which were hidden underneath the robe. This guy was Merlon.

"Everyone, I brought him." Shadow announced.

"This strange fellow, calling himself 'Shadow', tells me Mario's been infected, is that true, Princess?" he asked.

"Yes, Merlon. He needs your help, that's what this boy says," said Peach.

"Oh! Hello, Merlon. I'm Joseph," I said. His glowing eyes grew.

"You are...the creator of all the realms!?" he asked.

"I guess that's one way of putting it," I replied. Obviously he knew about me like Alexis did.

"Do you think that you could make something to cure Mario?" I said.

"What happened to him?" Merlon asked.

"A...A virus monster got him, and... Aaah!" Luigi buried his face in his hands and turned. "It's-a too painful to remember!" he shivered.

"Was he bitten? Or scratched? I need to know how he got infected," Merlon said to him.

"H-He was-a...wheeze...h-he was-a..."

"What?" everyone said at once.

"He was...gulp...he was-a...licked! WaaAah ha ha!" he sobbed.

Shadow threw Luigi on the ground, then pulled him up by his suspenders. He wore an angry scowl.

"You're telling us that all this happened, just because he got tasted?!" he yelled.

"Control yourself, Shadow. Luigi probably means Mario was licked too much," I suggested. Shadow let go of Luigi.

"Cough Cough. No problem, at least I know you're-a on our side," Luigi replied. Shadow's ear twitched and his eyes narrowed.

"Is he right, Luigi?" Daisy asked as he helped him up.

"Uh-huh, he was-a licked lots and lots by a deceivingly cute little puppy thing. Getting weaker each time, sniff, until...he drooped! Then a-the puppy thing turned into a monster!" he said, crying again.

"That would do it. Somebody get some virus saliva! I'll make an antidote and a vaccine, so that this won't happen again," said Merlon.

"There's a straggler, I'll get it," Link said, seeing a stray virus. He took out a bomb, and threw it just in front of its path. The virus didn't have time to run as it exploded on the ground, making it stumble and fall over.

Merlon was muttering something with his hands over Mario. "What are you doing?" I asked.

"Setting a spell on the infection so it won't fight back on the antidote. Basically I'm putting it to sleep," he said. When he was done with that, he made a bowl appear, and some kind of spice. He also pulled a 1-up mushroom from his sleeve. Then Link returned.

"Here is the spit you wanted. Blech," he said, giving Merlon a glass bottle.

Merlon started mixing the ingredients. "Joseph, will you help stir?" he asked me.

"Of...of course." He gave me a spatula, not exactly giving this the 'magic' feel to it I felt it needed.

"When are you gonna put in the mushroom?" I asked.

"That is for after he drinks the potion, it will revive him faster," he answered.

After it was done, he gave it to Mario to drink. I fed him the 1-up. Nothing happened. "Did it work already?" asked Bowser. I put my hand on his shoulder. Something was happening all right. I felt his pulse going way fast, as if he was about to...

"Aaah!" he yelled as jumped up really fast and ran to the bushes behind us. Was he...puking? When he came out, he looked relieved, though it was a little hard to tell since he still was dressed like Agent M. He did look a bit pale in the face though.

"Haah. Just what I needed," he said.

"Mario!" cried Peach, Luigi, and Daisy at the same time. Luigi ran to him and gave him a squeeze.

"Woohoo! You're back! I'm-a so happy!" he said.

"Luigi, can't...breathe," said Mario.

"Ooh, sorry," Luigi said as he let go.

"Whew, how did I change-a back?" he asked.

"I made the cure," said Merlon.

"Merlon, oh good. I'm-a happy to see you again!" Mario exclaimed.

Luigi helped Mario back to Peach, where she kissed him on the cheek.

"I was so worried about you," she said.

"I know, I remember everything, especially the looks on all a-your faces when I first saw you as-a that Agent M character," he said.

"What's a-the last thing you remember?" asked Luigi.

Mario paused. "Something I never thought I would do if-a defeat came upon me," he looked at Bowser, "thanking Bowser, of all people, for beating me up."

That came as a surprise for all of us, save Link and Shadow, who still didn't fully understand everything.

"Huh!? You were actually thanking me? Explanation please," Bowser demanded.

Mario nodded. "Being infected was a-terrifying, I saw everything I was a-doing, but I had no control over myself, all I could do was watch, think, and-a feel. I wanted Bowser and a-the kid to defeat me. So when Bowser did, I was-a thanking him in my head," he said.

"Well then, it was my pleasure! Next time I want to defeat you when you're at 100 percent!" Bowser said, enjoying his moment.

"You were good with that hammer," I said. Mario looked at me.

"And a-you were good with that sword," he said with a smile.

"I don't think I know your name. I remember you said it to that evil Eggman, but I can a-forget a few things."

"Joseph. Good to meet you, Mario," I said. "Nice a-to meet you too," he replied.

Mario already knew Link and Shadow from their previous meetings. So we didn't need to introduce anyone else. So that means Link only remembers Mario from Super Smash Bros. 64. I thought to myself.

"Mario, you know the way to Star Haven?" I asked.

"Oh yeah. Hey, Merlon, lead them to the gate, would you? I'll-a meet you guys there, I have to change a-to my regular clothes," said Mario.

As everyone was going, Peach touched my arm. I turned around. "Thank you, Joseph, for rescuing him. Without you, I don't know what we would've done," she said. Normally I might have guessed what they would've done out loud. But I kept quiet about that.

"Mario takes care of business when he needs to, I had to think about saving him so I could ask for his help." I told her.

"I'm sure he'll be glad to help you. I admire heroes who try to save all the lives they can, Mario is one of them, and I can tell you are too," Peach said. She then kissed my cheek. I blushed.

"You love Mario, don't you?" I asked.

She looked at me and said, "Why do you ask?"

"You two always behave as if you're more than just friends. I don't want to pry though," I said.

She started to get a tear in her eye.

"Yes. I do love him. Everything about him makes me happy," she said.

"Perfectly understandable. I always envisioned a future for you two, but I don't need to go there," I said.

She started looking excited. "I never thought about a future with him, tell me one thing, please?" she asked.

I decided to relent. "You've got to have the Toads ready if the Koopas invade again, so I thought of a 'Super Mario Defense Program'. Discuss it, maybe it'll catch on," I said.

"Oh, thank you! That's an incredible idea!" Peach replied. "You'd better get going now, I'll send Mario after you."

"Thanks, Peach," I said as I darted off.

I decided to wait for Mario. When he caught up to me, we ran together.

"What were you a-talking to Peach about?" Mario asked.

"She thanked me for saving you," I said.

"What about a-that kiss?" he urged, seeming angry.

"Nothing like what you feel for her, Mario. She just said that she sees us both as heroes she admires, that's all," I replied.

"You are not a-hiding stuff from me, are you?" he asked.

"Well...she said she loved you, but I don't see how important that is," I replied trying not to sound sarcastic.

Mario stopped, wide-eyed. "She really said that to you? I-I a-never thought she felt the same way," he said.

"You love her too?" I inquired with a knowing smirk.

"Yes! When I am with her, I feel like I'm a-filled with so much amore! She's-a my best friend, besides Luigi," he exclaimed.

"I totally understand, mi paizano," I replied. We shared a good laugh at our Italian.

Mario changed the subject. "So, why are these viruses a-kinapping the Star Spirits?"

"To use them to destroy us all," I said.

"Then I think you might a-need this," he said, as he reached for his pocket. He pulled out a cyan gem.

"A Chaos Emerald? So that's how you were glowing blue in our duel! That kinda gives me a little more respect in Bowser, all things considered," I said.

"I think this powerful gemstone is-a one thing they were after," said Mario, "they gave it to me as-a Agent M for a power boost I think."

"Heck yeah they're after this! Thanks! This'll help us a lot," I exclaimed.

Once we got to the gate Mario referred to, we tried to choose who will go to fight. "I think it should be Joseph, Shadow, Link, Mario Bros, and me!" said Daisy.

"But that leaves me out," Bowser said.

"For once, I agree with Bowser...partially," said Luigi, "It's-a too dangerous for a princess, but I think Bowser's just a little too...ah..."

"What? Say it, or I'll roast you alive!" Bowser threatened.

"WaaAah! Ohhhhhhh," Luigi shivered and covered his face. "I think what he's trying to say is that Bowser seems a bit reckless for this," I said.

"Y-Yeah, reckless," Luigi replied, still cowering.

"Reckless? RECKLESS?!" Bowser roared.

"Calm down everyone, Joseph should decide who goes to battle," Link said. Everyone was silently looking at me.

"I know I cannot come," said Merlon, "I may be a wizard, but I have no battle magic," he added.

"I think Link, Shadow, and the Mario bros should come with me. Daisy, Bowser, I just don't think you need to do this," I said.

"Why not me? Bowser I can understand, but me not come with you?" asked Daisy.

"I'm not sure Luigi can stand you getting hurt," I replied.

"Sigh...let her come if a-she wants. I'm a-gonna go home after this, remember? And-a she goes with me," said Luigi.

"Yeah, I do. This might be a fight to remember, I guess Daisy can come," I said. "Woo-hoo!" Daisy cried excitedly.

Bowser just stormed off grumbling. "I need to go home and rest up anyway. Remember punk, this ain't over between us!" he exclaimed pointing at me. I sighed.

"Lead on Mario," I said. Mario led us through the big, blue gate with a yellow star on it. Behind the gate was Princess Peach's castle.

"See that bridge on a-the right side of-a the castle? That's-a where we're headed," said Mario.

"Good luck to you all!" called Merlon as we set off.

The six of us ran across the grass to the bridge, where Mario stopped to hit a floating block above him. Two super feathers came floating down. Mario grabbed them, and gave one to Luigi. I thought he was saving them for later.

As we were going down the road, 'Shooting Star Summit' it was called, Mario kept slowing down to recall his memories with his friends at certain points. He and his friend Goombario defeated a magikoopa here, found a star piece there, and so on. Then we reached a big round platform, where Mario said was the gateway to Star Haven, home of the Star Spirits. There was a big light beam in the center of the area, coming down from the sky.

"This is Star Way?" asked Luigi.

"It's even more beautiful than what you explained to me, Mario."

"If only Zelda were here to see this," Link muttered.

"Who?" Daisy asked.

Link filled them in on the Zelda problem. "Joseph already knows this, and he agreed to help me find her," he finished.

"I'd-a like to help too," said Mario, "We all need to stop the viruses, so why not-a rescue their prisoners?"

"I want in, too," said Shadow.

"Thank you all. You don't know how much this means to me," Link said. He started tearing up a little. "I miss her so much. So does the kingdom. So, I suppose, on the behalf of Hyrule, your assistance is appreciated greatly."

So after that, we started going up Star Way. It was so amazing! Stars in the sky above and below us. We had to follow a starry path spiraling upwards, until we saw a light. "There it is!" said Luigi triumphantly. He ran up and jumped in. Daisy followed. Then Shadow, and Link. But Mario was hesitating.

"It looks...a bit different than I remember," he mumbled as he went in. As I approached, I realized it did look a little familiar. As soon as I jumped in, I knew why. It wasn't the gateway to Star Haven, it was a realm portal! We were tricked!

END OF CHAPTER


	6. Brothers and Betrayals

When I was done going through that realm portal, I felt really stupid. How could I let everybody on this team down, falling for a cheap trick like that? There was no room for getting sidetracked.

"Where are we? This is-a not Star Haven," Mario said.

"I don't know! Ugh! I'm so stupid to think that was Star Haven's gate. I'm sorry everyone. I messed up," I apologized.

Daisy spoke up, "No one can blame you, Joseph. We'll just go back." We turned around to see nothing. The portal disappeared.

"Oh great, now how are we going to get… to the Star Spirits with no way back?" asked Shadow.

"Can't you use that teleporting power, Shadow?" Link asked.

Shadow chuckled. "Heh. Sometimes I cannot believe myself. I've got the Emeralds with me." He took out the yellow Emerald. "Chaos Control!" Nothing. "Chaos Control!" Nothing again.

"Hold on, Shadow," I said. I had this idea. I changed myself into Sonic. "Toss me one, and we could do it together," I said.

Shadow threw me the blue Emerald that Mario gave me earlier. We put all three Emeralds together.

"Chaos CONTROL!" Shadow and I said.

Still nothing.

"What? Why isn't it working?" I almost yelled.

"This is frustrating. If we can't use Chaos Control to get back to the Mushroom Kingdom, can we use it anywhere?" Shadow asked.

"Maybe we should find another way back," Link said. "WaaAah! Y-you mean we have to go...gulp...in there?" Luigi asked.

What Luigi was looking at was a spooky looking forest. Not much light came from inside, and it looked very wild.

"Looks like were-a going on a little odyssey! Hoo-hoo!" Mario chuckled, not frightened in the least judging from his tone.

"No, we're not, we're going to find a way out of this, and get back to the rescuing," I said.

I put Link in the lead, because he spent the most time in forests like this one, but this was a lot different from the Lost Woods of Hyrule. It looked more…exotic. The trees were a lot closer together compared to the Lost Woods, and looking up there were vines connecting some branches together. Link was followed by Mario, Luigi, Daisy, normal me again, and Shadow. Daisy was mumbling something to herself.

"What's that?" I asked her.

"Hm? Oh, nothing. Just thinking about stuff," she said. She didn't sound convincing.

"What kind of 'stuff?'" I asked.

"Well," she sighed, "…I don't like that I'm always left out, y'know? Like I'm never good enough for my own adventure? As if!" she exclaimed.

"I get it. You don't think you get the respect you think you deserve. I agree. They should give you more important roles," I said to her.

"Who's 'they'?" she asked.

"Oh, your 'real' creators," I said.

She gave me a look that assured me that she understood. Then she smiled, "Thanks, Joseph." When she turned back forwards, she almost ran into a branch, which she dodged and I moved away from. I turned around to see Shadow. I stopped, he wasn't there.

"Shadow?" I called. No answer. I decided to look around for him, and catch up with the others later. I drew my sword and started walking back. After about three minutes, I heard something. A rustling sound. From the trees far to my right. "Is that you, Shadow?" I asked. "Don't play games with me, whoever you are," I said. I heard it again, behind me this time. I thought this situation was too cliché, even for Shadow. Again, the rustle from above me. "I'm warning you, I have a sword!" I challenged.

"A sword?" said a dark voice. It wasn't Shadow, but it wasn't a virus either, it sounded human. "That's lame. My weapon is much better," it bragged.

"And what kind of weapon do you have?" I asked.

"How 'bout I show you, newbie!"

When the voice said that, a dark figure jumped out shooting me with an assault rifle. I jumped back blocking as many bullets as I could with my sword. I took cover behind a tree, and when he stopped firing, I went on the assault.

SLASH!

I slashed with an energy slice, it ran the guy into a tree, but that didn't stop him. At least I got a glimpse of him. He wore dark green camouflage jacket and pants, some ammo clips on his belt, a pair of black boots, a strap of cloth over his forehead, a mustache, and a backpack slung over his shoulders.

I must've glanced a bit too long, because he almost immediately took off a grenade, and threw it right next to me. A big bright light suddenly blinded me, and I felt a huge force push me to the ground. I got up to find a gun pointed at my chest, the mysterious person had cornered me. But he wasn't mysterious anymore, now that I saw his face, I recognized him.

Behind the army camo stripes painted on his face, was my brother, Matthew.

"Matthew? Whoa, what's with the Rambo getup? And what kind of gun is that?" I asked.

Matthew sighed in annoyance, then replied, "It's an MP5 Silenced, obviously! And this is a uniform, not a 'getup'."

"Boy, am I glad you found me. Do you know what we're up against?" I asked him.

"Big virus that wants to screw your head up," Matthew replied, "I'm hunting it down 'cause it gets boring inside your head, so I need something new to shoot at."

"One, the virus is multiplying itself. Two, you look like you came out of Modern Warfare, and you called that boring. Three, it doesn't want to just screw my head up, it wants to eat my brain. And four, me, your own brother, a target?" I explained.

"Like I said, I need something to shoot at," he said, "and another thing, NO ONE LIKES A SMART ALECK!" Matthew continued on,"Now if you'll excuse me, while you run around in circles finding useless wannabes, I'll go gather my entire team in the time it took you to find one."

"Huh? You have a team too?" I asked him.

"I'm gonna have one soon, and I'll bet you anything they'll be the definition of 'badass,'" he replied.

"Oh. Well anyway, I'm glad you're here. I lost someone on my team, think you could help me track him down?"

He didn't have to think about it long to reply. "You and your team would just slow me down. I'm gonna find my own team and track this virus down my own way."

"Fine. Just help me find Shadow first. Even as we speak viruses could be surrounding him. Though I doubt it wouldn't take him long to destroy them," I told him.

He rolled his eyes, "You found him once on your own, you can do it again. I've things to do, places to go and stuff to shoot."

"Wait!" I said, holding on to one last idea, "Those viruses surrounding him could be targets, and they don't go down too easy. Think you're up for a challenge like that?"

"I'll only do it for a price," he replied. My little brother is always like that, he likes cash, and he thinks he can always get some off of me. At least that's how I figure it.

"This is my imagination. Any money you get will disappear when we're out."

"So? I'll take what I can get now instead of none at all." I guess I had no choice.

"Fine. I'll pay you to help me find Shadow. Name the price," I said.

Matthew laughed and replied, "I don't want money, especially not from here. The currency here is probably coins, rings, and mushrooms. No, I want a portal that goes straight to Metal Gear."

Figures that Matthew wanted to go there. "How about Super Smash Bros, you could find Snake there," I suggested.

"If that's the best you can do then fine," he said.

So we started looking for any signs of Shadow. Matthew reached into his backpack, and pulled out some thermal-vision goggles. "This'll help look for any heat signatures," he said. I thought maybe, if Shadow got lost, he would Chaos Control back to the rest of us. But... if he didn't want to be found, I'd think he'd go someplace where he wouldn't be.

"Got something. Rectangular prints made recently. Made by your teammate's shoes?" asked Matthew.

"Let me see," I said. Instead of borrowing his goggles, I tried using my own eyes to see heat. Everything turned blue, except for some glowing yellow rectangle shapes in a walking pattern. "That's him all right," I said, "Let's follow 'em." I might have to use infrared vision more often.

We followed the prints wherever they led. Over gorges, up in trees, even across quicksand (so glad we avoided that). And all the while, Matthew led the way. He just wouldn't stop, so it was tough at times to keep up (Figures because in the real world, he's a Boy Scout, and he became a freaking marine in my head). It was starting to get tiring, but whenever I would slow down, Matthew would keep going, forcing me to jump ahead either by using my enhanced speed or agility. Using it so often was pretty hard on my stamina, yet we kept pressing on.

I started hearing voices. "Hold up Matthew," I said, "I hear something."

I looked to see where I thought they were coming from. I found them far to the left. "This way," I said softly. We slowly crept up to the voices. I began to see a small clearing, Shadow was in the center, talking to someone on his GUN communicator. I crept around a little to see who it was.

I could understand them now. "And what about the boy?" asked the guy on Shadow's radio.

"He will be quite a challenge for us, but he doesn't suspect anything...yet," Shadow answered.

"Very good, Agent. Sso with the Sstar Sspiritss in your handss, your 'team' hass no hope," it said.

My eyes widened. Was Shadow a traitor?!

"One more thing captain, the true Shadow is fighting back, I'm starting to...nngh...lose control of his body. Is there anything that will subdue him?"

"We will have something made. In the meantime, don't let them lose trusst in you, for it will be futile for usss," the obvious virus captain said.

"Thank you, sir." said Shadow.

"Do not fail, Shadow Pathogen."

That was all the bombshell I needed to hear. Matthew acted first. He pulled out a combat knife, spun out into the clearing. He threw the knife, it went right by Shadow's ear. Shadow cocked his Beretta 96, and Matthew took cover behind another tree. While he was taking cover, Matthew pulled out a FAMAS G2, started shooting, and he yelled to me, "Go now!"

I looked through my watch for anything. I decided I didn't have time. So I just walked into the clearing. "Shadow?" I asked, trying to sound like I didn't know anything.

"Joseph? Get away! Someone's attacking back there!" Shadow cried.

"That's my brother, he's just a bit trigger happy, I'll go tell him to stop," I replied.

I went over to Matthew. "Don't shoot unless he does something first. Okay?" I told him softly.

"What?! You saw what happened back there, we should take him out before he can make a move on us!" he retorted.

"Not yet, though, you come out there with me, and if anything happens, we'll have each other's backs. Get it?" I asked him.

"I still don't like it," he said, but went with it. We approached Shadow and I introduced them.

"Shadow, this is my younger brother Matthew. Matthew, you've played as Shadow the Hedgehog once or twice in the Olympics, right?"

"'Sup," Matthew said, sounding a bit frustrated.

"Nice to meet you, Matthew. Your aim is pretty good, that knife went very close to me," Shadow complimented.

"Thanks, I didn't want to clean up another mess on such a tight schedule," Matthew replied sarcastically.

"Funny," Shadow said. He pulled me over to the side. "Is he always like that?"

"Like what?" I asked.

"He seems sarcastic, loose, possibly out of control, and anti-social. You just called him trigger happy," he replied.

"Not anti-social, not out of control, but I guess he just doesn't like the stuff in my mind," I told him.

We went back over to Matthew. "You look a bit tired. How long were you behind there?" asked Shadow.

"Long enough, let's get moving," replied Matthew.

"Yeah, we better get back to the team. They must've noticed we've been gone by now," I replied.

As we started back, there came an explosion from behind us that knocked us to the ground. Matthew and I turned to see Shadow. I knew it had to come from him. His eyes showed his hate, with a hint of evil. However, they also had a bit of despair in them.

"You stayed behind to see me talk. I can only assume you know too much now," Shadow said darkly, "for this, I have no choice but to destroy you."

"What are you gonna do to us?" I asked.

"Paralyze you, then maybe I'll drop you in a pit of quicksand," he said.

"Don't we get the right to one phone call?" I asked.

"This is no time for jokes!" Shadow fired his gun, and time seemed to slow down.

"What is this?" Matthew asked.

Time around Shadow and his bullet were going at a snail's pace. I didn't do it, but a flash of light behind us gave it away.

TO BE CONTINUED


	7. Big Surprises

We turned towards the light to be face to face with something that looked like a realm portal, but it was less swirly and more glassy, kinda like looking through an aquarium. On the other side of it was a lady that looked like...

"Alexis?"

"Oh thank the gods I found you, Joseph! Are you alright? It seems like you and your brother found each other! And that I'm just in time to help you!" she exclaimed with relief.

"Who's this?" Matthew asked.

"Alexis. She gave me this watch. We can trust her," I answered.

"Right. A woman in a magic window pops out of nowhere, and she's automatically trustworthy."

I turned back to Alexis, ignoring that comment. "You're a lifesaver, you know that? How're you gonna help us?"

"First, fill me in. What is going on behind you? Who's shooting?" she asked.

"Shadow the Hedgehog, I think he's possessed by a virus. Is there something we can do to help him?"

"From what I can gather, he may have been a spy since he joined Joseph's team," Matthew interjected.

Alexis nodded. "So that virus is gonna be difficult to defeat normally."

"What do you think would work in getting it out of Shadow without seriously hurting him?" I asked.

"Hold on just one moment! I'm sure I have something in the back..." she hurried away from view. Matthew and I waited a few seconds before there were the sounds of crashing and banging from the window. "Oh fudge-nuggets! Stupid klutz I am!" she shouted.

She returned shortly after that with a small metal case no bigger than a lunchbox. "This should do it!" She opened up the case for us. Inside was a glowing black crystal that radiated power unlike anything I felt since coming here.

"What is that?" asked Matthew.

"This here, boys, is a chunk of freshly-cooked, super-heated, and highly unstable, black kryptonite!" she exclaimed.

"Kryptonite? We're not up against Superman here, lady!" Matthew said irritably.

"Hey! Why you gotta be so rude?!" she said back just as irritably.

"I don't get it, Alexis, why would kryptonite help us?" I asked.

She took a deep breath and looked me in the eye while closing the case. "Like I said, this is black kryptonite. Not your ordinary green variety. The difference is that this affects any living being on earth, not just Superman or other kryptonians."

I saw where she was getting at. We could use the kryptonite to weaken Shadow and it might force off the virus in him.

"Can you make it into a gun?" Matthew asked.

"Matthew! That's a bit excessive, don't you think?" I retorted.

"I'll do it!" Alexis stated.

I looked at her incredulously. "What?"

Matthew then crossed his arms as he explained, "Mr. Edgy the Hedgelord over there is armed with a gun, and he knows CQC. I doubt just shoving a rock in his face will do much, assuming we can get him close enough to it."

"That's...a good point," I conceded.

"I'll use the crystal as a power source for a laser blaster, how does that sound?" Alexis added.

"But didn't you say it's unstable? What if something malfunctions and the blaster explodes?"

"Pffft. Easy. Just put an energy regulator inside and be sure not to blast it so often! And for good measure, I'll cover the rock up with a lead capsule so it's safe in your hand to hold."

I'll admit, it wasn't a bad idea. In fact it might work if we could get in a hit on Shadow.

"Okay Alexis, we'll take it," I said.

"Hey, my idea, I call dibs on the kryptonite gun," said Matthew.

"Ugh! Okay, but hand it over after we help Shadow."

"No way, dude. I gotta have something to enjoy while I'm here. But maybe I'll give it back when I get bored of it."

"Alright, alright, fine," I relented.

"Here you are. I made it while we were talking." Alexis said.

"Wow, that was fast!" I replied.

"How did she...?" wondered Matthew.

"Ah-ah-ah! A sorceress never reveals her spells! Except when it's absolutely necessary!" she laughed. Alexis pushed the newly created kryptonite blaster through the watery window. It floated towards me as if it was in water. I put my hand forward touching the window and noticed the "glass" became liquid. I reached my arm inside. Grasping the gun, I slowly pulled it out. The liquid glass hardened back to before, still retaining the aquarium aesthetic.

"That was so cool," I said.

"My magic on the flow of time is out. You better dodge that bullet once this thing closes," said Alexis.

"One last thing, Alexis."

"Yes?" she cocked her head to one side.

"Have you gotten younger?"

"Oh dude! Not cool to talk about a girl's age!" Matthew said.

"No, you're right, Joseph. I have gotten younger. I'd say that aging curse is starting to wear off at last. I'm reverting back to the youthful age I was at before it was put on me! I'm honestly quite excited for myself. Oh but, look at me! I'm old enough to be your mother now so...Ah! Forget I said anything! Agh! I'm rambling, aren't I?"

"Alexis! You look great. I'll be seeing you later," I said in a loud, but calm voice, smiling at her.

She looked at me with longing eyes, then happy eyes. "Thank you, see you later," and she closed the window.

Shadow's bullet whizzed between Matthew and I. We quickly jumped away from its path as it rustled some foliage behind us. Matthew immediately put the kryptonite gun in a spare holster on his leg, and got back up and rushed Shadow, his fists raised and ready. The look in Matthew's eyes was almost feral. Then he and Shadow began fighting so fast I could not make out what moves they were doing or which one of them had the upper hand!

With Shadow Pathogen distracted, I decided to look for the others. Luckily the gunshot most likely alerted them as I saw them all coming towards us.

"What-a happened? We all-a heard a big bang!" Mario breathed heavily.

"It wasn't that big, but it was loud," Link added.

"Wh-what do you mean it wasn't that-a big?" asked Luigi shakily.

"Doesn't matter how loud it was! Shadow's gotten infected! He's fighting with my brother right here!" I said, pointing to the clearing where the brawl was taking place.

"Okay! It's about time we got some action! Let's go!" Daisy exclaimed, running towards the fight.

"DAISY WAIT!" Luigi screamed running after her.

"So what's-a the plan?" asked Mario.

"Alexis gave my brother Matthew a weapon to subdue Shadow and hopefully let us remove the virus infecting him. We just need to make sure Shadow gets hit."

"Will it kill him?" Link asked, sounding concerned.

"It's not supposed to," I said.

"It's-a go time!" Mario whooped as he rushed in, jumping up and hitting Shadow with a forward aerial punch from Smash Bros.

"Hey! I was...about to...get him..." panted Matthew.

"Sorry, but let us-a tag in!" Mario said with a smile as Luigi, Daisy, Link, and myself surrounded the grounded Shadow.

"You fools think you can beat me?" Shadow mocked, a hint of virus in his voice now.

We all stared at Shadow. We all fought beside him, and respected him, only for him to turn out as a spy for the viruses. No one had any words, just looks. Looks of anger, of concern, hate, worry...

"No comebacks, eh? Then I will make you scream! And you will wallow in your wails of death!"

"Okay, that was morbid even for you, Shadow." I commented.

"I'll show you the meaning of-GNNH!" Shadow fell down, knocked out by the pommel of Link's Master Sword.

"Hurry up and heal him!" he exclaimed.

Matthew wasted no time in pulling out the gun. However, Shadow quickly back-kicked Link and teleported to Matthew snatching the blaster from his hands.

"No!" I yelled pulling out my sword. Shadow fired the gun as I sliced the air towards him.

SLASH

TCHVMMMMM

A large black laser cut through the slash. I only barely managed to block it with my sword but the beam didn't stop. I could feel it pushing, the heat from the radiation blanketed me, even though the blast was being deflected. Matthew sweep-kicked Shadow, disrupting the beam, and allowing me to run to them. I held Shadow in a headlock as best I could, but his quills were so huge that they almost poked my eyes.

"NOW!" I shouted.

Matthew picked up the gun again and fired a beam right into both Shadow and I.

TCHVMMMMM

We both fell to the ground. Shadow unconscious, and me exhausted and dizzy.

I looked to see Shadow's body changing colors and turning blurry. Black and red blurred into gray and puce. It remained until the gray-puce blur blew away, leaving Shadow on the ground looking the same as he always did.

I used my sword to shakily pick myself up. That blast, even though I wasn't hit directly by it, hurt REALLY bad. My ears were ringing, my vision was blurry, my head spun, and I felt like I've had one too many sugar cookies implanted into my arteries. In this condition, everyone rushed over to me to make sure I was fine, I waved over to Shadow. Don't worry about me, check on him! Is what I wanted to say if my mouth was working.

Shadow seemed to gather enough strength to turn himself on his back. Mario helped him up.

"You a-feeling okay, Shadow?"

"Hngh, not gonna lie, I've been better. What about Joseph?"

"Here, take it easy, everything'll be okie-dokie." Mario said with a thumbs-up.

Shadow's eyes suddenly went wide and he pushed Mario down to the ground, a purple bolt of electricity shot between them!

Everyone's gazes went to the direction that bolt came from, and there stood the assailant, it was a virus that was shaped like Shadow!

It's eyes were a sickly green set in yellow. The fur was puce with gray stripes that looked like they were drawn with trembling hands. Its hands were just five-fingered claws and its feet were just legs that went down into points like a bug's legs.

"DIIIIEEEE!"

It lunged at me like an angry lion only to be knocked away by Daisy using her... her butt?

"Get away from him, freak!" she shouted at it.

That stirred everyone else into action. The Shadow Pathogen was using the trees as cover, but Matthew put on some big headset with goggles and apparently could see him.

"At your 2!" He called.

"Chaos Spear!" Shadow threw a yellow spear where Matthew said, striking a tree and surprising the Pathogen behind it, making it run.

I finally felt like I had enough strength to stand up and fight this thing. I pulled my sword up to my ready stance and looked around the makeshift arena with the others.

It was a somewhat mindless creature when it was not in Shadow, as it just acted like a trapped animal trying to hide from the hunters, us.

Link shot arrows into the brush to scare it into the open, Shadow threw chaos spears, Mario and Daisy tried to fight it head-on only for them to get just a few hits before it ran back. Luigi tried using some lightning powers that I'd never seen him use before. Matthew was using his goggles, which I assumed were infrared, to tell us where to target it.

As for me, I tried playing long range with my sword's energy.

SLASH SLASH SLASH

After a few minutes it fell down exhausted, Mario dragged him to the middle of the group.

"Talk, Pathogen! What was your mission?" Shadow more commanded than asked him.

"Sa...Sabotage..." He muttered.

"To what end!?" said Link.

"Hehe...hehehehehe...you don't get it...? We'll never stop...conssssuming...hehehehahaha-"

SHNK

Matthew stabbed into its head with a combat knife, and the Pathogen went limp.

"WAAa-WAWAWAWAWAWAAAHH!" Luigi screamed and fainted while Mario and Daisy's faces went pale. Link turned his head to avoid seeing the deed, and Shadow seemed to be unaffected until he closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

"Now that this has been dealt with, what should we do?" Shadow looked directly at me.

I shook my head to refocus myself. "We gotta get back to Star Way. Let's look for a portal back."

No words were said as everyone went out to search for a new portal. Link and Mario went to look together, Shadow went alone, and Daisy stayed with a dazed Luigi to keep him calm.

"That was...the single-most scary thing...I ever saw-hahaw!" Luigi sobbed into Daisy's embrace.

"I know sweetie, I saw it too. There there..." she held Luigi close to her. I couldn't help but feel bad for them. Who could blame their kind of response?

Matthew still wore the goggles when he put his hand on my shoulder.

"You sure that was everyone that just left us here?" He asked.

"What are you talking about?"

He looked behind me at a tree and pointed to something. I looked at where he was pointing and saw something move.

"What was that?" I asked myself.

"One more question, this blaster, mind telling me how it was able to do that? I get the feeling you knew." he replied.

"Huh? Oh the black kryptonite? Yeah see what it does is it splits beings into two opposite personalities. I saw it in an episode of Smallville where they used it against Doomsday to get his human side back."

"Uh huh...and what did it do to Superman?"

My eyes went wide as I looked back at where the movement in the bushes was as I realized what he was getting at.

"You think that was...?"

"If I were to make a guess, he probably just woke up from you getting hit by the blast the virus shot at you, the one you blocked with your sword."

I couldn't believe it. I had to see for myself. I ran to where the movement was, only for whatever it was to run away from me before I could get a good look at it. It left a path that I followed as close as I could, trying to catch up to it. Finally I saw a bright light as a portal appeared right in front of it, and it stopped long enough for me to see it with my own eyes.

It was me. Or rather it was a person that looked exactly like me. The way he was dressed was different from me too. While I had a black jacket with a red t-shirt, he was wearing a light gray jacket and an aqua blue t-shirt. My pants were denim blue, his pants were straight up black. He turned and looked at me, his eyes were not hazel like mine, they were glowing an emerald green color. And the look he gave was one of many emotions.

Jealousy.

Fear.

Anger.

Confusion.

Excitement.

He smirked as he gave me a look that said, I'm gonna kill you one of these days. Then he jumped into the portal and it disappeared.

I was left there, staring at nothing at all. It was another me. He was gone now. Who knows what he's gonna do to my head?

END OF CHAPTER


	8. Goose Chase

I felt a hand on my shoulder snap me out of my stupor. It was Matthew's hand, and he was shaking me.

"Hey! You gonna get moving or do I havta force you to?"

I shook myself from him and stood slowly. Still dumbfounded from what I just witnessed.

I have been split.

Cut.

Divided.

I can't fight at my full strength anymore...

My breathing became short and I clutched my chest as the realization hit me like the ground from a 60 foot fall. Another version of me is in my imagination. A version with malicious desires if that evil grin he flashed me was anything to go on in terms of guessing his personality. Though that was one of the stipends of using black kryptonite, now that I thought about it. But should it have worked that way...?

"Yo! Earth to Joseph! Come in, Joseph! Do I need to splash you with a glass of water?" Matthew said exasperatedly.

"...Tha-that was...uh...that was bad, I think." I stammered.

"He speaks! Like a broken record, but he speaks!"

"Okay, okay enough, bro!"

"Alright, so that happened. What now?" he asked.

I put my fingers to my chin as I contemplated for a second before I had my answer, "We regroup."

"So, how come-a we didn't see this 'Joeclone' in the first place?" asked Mario.

"'Joeclone?'" I questioned.

"You gotta any better names to call him? We can't-a just leave him with-a no name at all." There was a brief moment of silence at the plumber's words.

"Okay, it works, but it's pretty ridiculous," said Link.

"To be fair, so was this whole detour," I said meekly.

"I do apologize again for this. It was that Pathogen that brought us here, and I was too weak to stand against its control over me," said Shadow.

"Enough pity-partying! Let's get y'all back to the task at hand," said Matthew.

"So we know where he came from, but how did he know where to find a portal? That doesn't make sense," asked Daisy.

"He didn't find a portal, he made one appear," I said.

Everyone was shocked. "Does Alexis know about this?" Link asked.

"She even thinks I could do it too, but I'm not sure how."

"Well, try it out now," Shadow said.

"But what if he blows us up?" Luigi questioned, quite scared.

"I hope that won't happen," I said.

"C'mon Luigi! Trust in-a Giuseppe! I bet-a my hat he can do whatever Joeclone can-a do!"

With Mario's words of encouragement, I tried to visualize the last place we've been, Star Way. Once I saw it in my thoughts, I moved my hand in front of me, energy came out in the form of a portal.

"Woo-hoo! Ya see? What-a did I say?" Mario said excitedly. I motioned everyone to go in. Mario went in first, then Luigi, Link, Daisy, and Shadow.

Matthew however, didn't move.

"What's up, bro?" I asked him.

"I'm getting a little sick of this. It's a little bit more than I thought this would be."

He wasn't serious, was he? After all that he wants out? Could he even leave?

"Look, the truth is, I think you can handle this. You don't need me on your team, Joseph," he said.

"But, why? Why do you think I can beat this virus? I just got essentially split in half!"

He put his finger on my chest. "I don't see it that way. The way I look at it, you weren't cut in half like a doughnut. You were multiplied into two. And if it's one thing that I know about you, it's your natural ability to make friends."

That caught me by surprise. I didn't know Matthew knew me like that. I was usually holed away in my room in the real world, and I only made friends when I had to get out for reasons that I didn't choose on my own, like church or homeschool gatherings or holiday parties with the extended family. But, he was right. It was easy for me to make friends.

But making friends with that...with Joeclone? Was he really suggesting that?

"I don't know if it'll work. I mean, he's me, but he's evil."

"I don't think so. You just have to show him that no matter how you act, there always is good in every person. Give him a chance, give him a choice, to fight with you."

Matthew started to fade away.

"Matthew!"

"It's okay, man! I've been on borrowed time anyway. I'm just going back to reality."

"But what about the team you were gonna build?" I asked.

"Eh, I don't really care anymore. This was your fight from the start, not mine. Besides, I think you've got an...alright group working with you," he narrowed one eye as he said it, "Just make sure you come back to us as soon as you're able! I love you, big brother!"

"Love you too, Matthew..." I said as he faded away completely.

Well, with my brother gone, I turned back towards my portal. His words echoed in my mind as I did my best to take them to heart.

"There's good in every person...give him a chance..."

After the dizziness I found that we made it to Star Way, and conveniently right where we left off.

"Let's-a go!" Mario said. Everybody was out at that time.

"Where's your brother?" Link asked.

"He's gone back. He won't be joining us." I said with a sigh.

"Aw, but he was so cool!" Daisy groaned.

"We have a mission. There's no time to worry about him," said Shadow.

"Y-yeah? Well what about that-a Joeclone guy?" Luigi asked.

"Inconsequential. We have to destroy the Mother Virus to save Joseph's mind. That's priority number one. Joeclone can do whatever he wants as long as he doesn't get in our way," Shadow explained.

"Shadow's right. We'll worry about Joeclone later. Right now we focus on keeping the Star Spirits from getting kidnapped, so that the Mother Virus won't use their power to get stronger," I said, walking ahead.

I went in front. Mario behind me. Then the others. We went up the starry path of Star Way, until we reached three lighted lampposts with moons on them. This had to be the real entrance to Star Haven.

"Is this it, Mario?" I asked.

"Oh yeah, I know it is," Mario said. He went on, and we all followed. The place looked so peaceful, so untouched, the viruses probably didn't arrive yet, or maybe they have, but not made a move. "This way to the Star Spirits' palace," said Mario.

"It's-a so incredible!" Luigi commented.

"Just-a wait until you see the palace itself," Mario added. But what I was more interested in were the gooey holes headed in the same direction.

I saw Mario's point when we arrived. The palace was incredible. It shined with the light of stars.

"It doesn't look like the viruses are here," said Link.

I felt something. "They are here, I can sense them, plus there are virus tracks at our feet," I said.

"Sense them like the aardvirus?" asked Shadow.

"Yeah. Hey wait a minute, how come I didn't sense virus when you were near at the time?" I asked.

"That's most likely because Shadow Pathogen was using me as a disguise," he explained.

We walked through the door, the room inside was shining even brighter than the outside. I saw seven pillars placed evenly around the room. Each Star Spirit was on top of one, but something wasn't right. It all made sense when Mario ran up to the center.

"Hello, good Star Spirits. I come with urgent news," he said to them.

"Mario, it's good to see you again. We are aware of the creatures that threaten existence, but what have you to tell us about them?" asked Eldstar, on top of the pillar in front.

"Perhaps it would be better for him to tell you all," Mario replied pointing to me.

"Who is this child to report the doings of such unnatural creatures?" Muskular asked toughly.

I wasn't sure if I was feeling up to giving reports, so I decided to wing it. "I am the creator of your world, and all the worlds that my companions come from," I announced.

"Do my ears deceive me? You are saying that you are a god, are you?" asked Skolar.

"I'm not a god, I'm a prisoner," I said.

"I suppose you mean a metaphorical imprisonment?" Klevar asked.

"Please speak plainly, will you Klevar?" asked Misstar.

"Will the Star Spirits understand better if I give my 'report'?" I questioned.

Eldstar spoke, "Let the young man speak." There was silence among them, and so I began.

I told the Star Spirits the important points of the trip. I added my first encounter with Mario as Mr. M, just to emphasize the threat that the viruses are. Mario described his point of view of being controlled. Luigi almost burst out crying, but Daisy calmed him down.

I skipped Shadow's revival and the creation of Joeclone, because they weren't important, and finished at the team's arrival to the palace. "From what you say, Joseph," said Kalmar, "it seems that these viruses are not a force to be underestimated. And so you think that they are going to capture us?"

"Actually, they might even be listening to us right now?" I called.

At once, the viruses sprung out from behind the pillars. More than 25 of them at least. I drew my sword. "Knew I felt it! Prepare for battle, guys!" I said.

"Mario, we should once again grant you our powers. Are you ready?" Eldstar asked Mario.

"Hey, I don't think it would-a be fair, considering Luigi's absence from the first time I saved you all. Give-a him some power too!" he said.

Luigi went over to him. "You mean it, bro?" he asked.

"Oh yeah! With-a two superstar-powered Mario bros., how will they-a succeed?" answered Mario. Luigi smiled big.

"Then prepare yourselves," Eldstar said. Mario and Luigi received a glow around them from the Star Spirits, and I knew the match was ours to win. Then I realized something.

The viruses were frozen, and I don't mean with ice. Shadow, Link, and Daisy were frozen too.

"How...?" I thought. Then I remembered that one of the Star Spirits had the power to freeze enemies for a limited time. "Klevar? Did you do this to them?" I asked.

"Yes I did. I used my 'Time Out' power to immobilize them in time, temporarily," he replied.

"Thanks Klevar. Luigi, Mario, let's get 'em before they unfreeze," I said.

"It's-a Mario time!" Mario cried boldly.

"Luigi time!" Luigi echoed. We then set out to destroy every virus in our sights. I slashed three near Misstar, Luigi shot green fireballs at a few, and Mario ground-pounded a lot of them. Luigi even showed off some power of electricity I hadn't known he could use before!

Pretty soon we were fresh out of viruses, and then all unfroze.

"Aaah!"

"What the...?!"

"Chaos...huh?" everyone else cried.

"Taken care of, guys. But I sense more of 'em coming," I said. "Star Spirits, will you come with us, under our protection?" They were silent for a few moments, glancing to one another.

Mamar spoke first, "I suppose it could be safe for us to go."

"Are you insane?! Once we leave, the Star Rod will be helpless to the viruses!" exclaimed Muskular.

"Not unless we take it with us. Not to be used unless in a very, very sticky situation," replied Kalmar.

"What just happened? What's a Star Rod?" asked Shadow.

I couldn't believe I forgot about the Star Rod. The one thing that could make any wish come true, and the Star Spirits guarded it from evildoers. Bowser stole it twice as far as I knew, but Mario and friends stopped him each time. I went over to the previously frozen ones and told them.

"I know about the Star Rod. I wielded it in one of our Mario Parties. It is stupidly powerful!" said Daisy. The Star Spirits glared at her, "I-I mean that in the best way possible!"

"I'm thinking that was a different Star Rod. Like I said, this one grants wishes," I said.

"And I'd expect, it would be even more dangerous in the wrong hands," said Shadow.

"Hit the nail on the head Shadow," I replied.

"Then could it be the Star Rod that the Mother Virus is truly after from this world?" asked Link.

"It could be, but then why wouldn't our captured virus tell us that?" I asked.

"Obviously to throw us off the scent. From my experience being Shadow Pathogen, the weak viruses do not survive long. And those that are captured are meant to give everything towards the Mother's aim, their lives included." Shadow explained.

"So, he lied to us? They're only going after the Chaos Emeralds?" I asked.

"I don't think it was a complete lie, maybe the Mother Virus wants something like the Star Rod... but what?" Shadow questioned.

It suddenly clicked. Something like the Star Rod, but this was the wrong one.

"We've been had. The viruses probably already have the Star Rod by now!" I exclaimed.

"But it's with us right here," Misstar said.

"There's another Star Rod that I believe was their real target. We have to go see if it's what I think it is!" I said.

"Are you sure about this?" asked Link.

"Why would there be another Star Rod, anyway? Why choose that one over the Star Spirits' one?" asked Daisy.

To me the answer was clear, the difference between the Star Rods was popularity.

We left Star Haven empty-handed, but the Star Spirits did thank us for saving them from those viruses. We were heading back to Toad Town silently.

We passed Peach and Bowser, who were at the tennis court throwing some serves. "Bowser? Peach? What are you doing?" I asked.

"Oh, hey Princess! They're back!" Bowser called just as a tennis ball hit his right horn.

Peach turned towards us. "Did you rescue them?" she asked.

"Well, yes. We got there just as arrived, and beat an ambush, but the viruses weren't after the Spirits in the first place," I said.

"But-a they gave us their powers! It was-a sweet!" Luigi exclaimed. "Yeah? I wish I had the same power that defeated me," Bowser snarled.

"So Luigi, I guess this means so long?" I asked. I did promise after we rescued the Star Spirits, he could go home.

"Heh...A deal is a deal. But you still have-a that portal power right? You can call me whenever! Sound good?" he said.

"This was real fun! We have to have you over for some activities soon, Joseph! We could Kart race, Party, and hey, I hear rumors about a new Smash Bros tournament starting up pretty soon and...maybe you could help me spruce up my application?" Daisy asked.

I laughed, "I would really like that, actually. Thanks!"

We all said our goodbyes to Luigi and Daisy, but I knew we would see them again. As the four of us went towards a new portal I made, I heard one last bit.

"Who wants doubles?" asked Daisy.

"P-please don't pair me up a-with him," Luigi stammered, referring to Bowser.

While we were on our way to a good spot to make a portal, we recounted what happened so far, and asked each other questions.

"Did you fight back when the virus grabbed you, Mario?" I asked.

"I couldn't, you weren't aware of them," he said, "It grabbed me by the arms, picked-a me up, and started licking me more violently than a mad dog! The spit tasted awful! And-a then I started feeling this-a bad headache," Mario continued, "That's-a how I turned evil. Later is when I changed-a my clothes into Mr. M's outfit. Against-a my will, mind you."

Then we started asking Shadow questions. "You said you were infected when you met us. How did you get infected in the first place?" Link asked him.

"I was sent by GUN to check out strange disturbances in Knothole's ruins," Shadow said, "but before I got there, I met with a virus. He knocked me out, and I woke up to see no one. I tried to move, but I couldn't. Then my body moved for me. 'You are mine to control now, Shadow,' Pathogen told me."

Shadow continued, "He used my memories to find out everything about my mission, my comrades, and the chaos emeralds."

I nodded, and he continued, "I found out about your watch while eavesdropping on top of FHQ. My binoculars showed me and Pathogen what it could do. Anyway, Pathogen would've let you have my powers, but I thought of something he agreed on, 'You don't want him to learn your kind's secrets, do you? Giving him my powers might detect you too, and everything with you.' So I implied that your watch could dig deeper than to just copy one's powers. But I lied, of course, because I don't actually know if the watch can do that."

"That was sly, Shadow." I praised.

"Guys, look! I think this is a good clear spot," Link announced. He pointed in front of us.

"Let's go." I said, creating the portal.

"So where does-a this one go?" asked Mario.

"I can't see where it goes, but I know it will be closer to the Virus Mother," I said.

"Let's take a look at our inventory," Shadow suggested. So we did. Shadow was apparently low on ammunition, so I made bullets appear out of the ground. He was thankful.

Mario made a little ruler-size bar show up out of nowhere, where it showed a fire flower, a 1-up mushroom, his hammer, and one of those feathers he found. "I'm-a good," he decided.

Link was making arrows from the wood of a tree. Best job of making arrows I ever saw.

"Need help, Link?" I offered.

"Hm? Oh, no thank you. I can make plenty in no time," he replied.

"Whoa, world-a record worthy?" asked Mario.

"I don't know...?" Link asked, perplexed at the notion that he could break any world record.

After a good ammo checkup, we went through the portal. Link went first, then Shadow, Mario third, leaving me last. I took one last look around, and I felt I would want to visit this place again. That's just what Matthew would expect me to feel. I could already tell that thought would annoy him. We have a new destination, a new mission, and maybe we'll be just enough to fight the Mother Virus.

For me, for my family, for my imagination.

END OF CHAPTER


End file.
